Sabbatical Day 37

Christmas is over but unfortunately some of it still remains...mainly in the form of extra insulation around my middle. Now, all that extra eating doesn't seem like much fun...at least not as much fun as it seemed to be during the parties.

It is so easy to put the weight on and is so hard to take it off. It is equally discouraging to read that we have to burn 3500 calories more than we consume in order to loose one pound of fat. Generally I burn around 400 calories in an aerobic workout. That means if I don't decrease my consumption at all, it would take 9 days to loose one pound...one pound that no one can tell (including me).

Now I'm not very patient and I like to see results immediatly. Plus, I really prefer that it not require such hard work in order to see results. Basically, I'm frustrated by this. But my frustration doesn't change the truth of what it takes to loose weight.

Now I suppose I could purchase the latest appetite suppressant, starve my body, become a fanatic about exercise or use any other over the top approach. However, those may not be the best alternative to plain hard work and a basic change to how I approach food. The result of this hard work can be a lifetime of health and wellness due to the change of beliefs, thoughts and eventually action.

Spiritual transformation is hard work too. I can try to short change the process but there is usually one road to this new life. The road is humility. God knew we could not make this transformation happen without direct help from the Holy Spirit.

As independent as we may think we are, there is absolutely no way we can live a new life without His help in everything we do. Jesus said is so well. While on the earth and faced with being God in flesh He said, "I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." If Jesus, being God, could not make it without the Father's help, I know I can't.

What blows my mind is that when God sees me, He sees the transformed me. Now go figure...I wish I had those glasses on. I don't know how He does that since He knows all of my messiness but He does.

The transformed version of me has nothing to do with my abilities. It is solely because of the work of Christ. His death and resurrection changes everything from my eternal destination of death to life. I'm not just talking about heaven or hell. I am talking about today...death or life of my soul.

We have the choice of cooperating with His transforming plan. It might be easy or on the other hand it may be hard. Either way He loves us and will continually work to bring about the best for us. We will experience tough times. However, I am assured that even those bring about His change and transformation.

Well I better hit the gym. I still have more "transforming" to do. Easy or hard...either way...I'm hungry for transformation. I'm in it for life.