Choices

Warning: This post is a tad soap boxy

This morning I began my new running routine in order to train for the 10K I plan to run in October.

It. was. rough.

I decided to rotate walking and running every quarter of a mile. That is how weak my body was this morning. It got me thinking about how two years ago I could run 4 to 6 miles with no problems and how sad it was that I was struggling with just a mile today. I got through about 2.5 miles which was right on for my training.

As I was showering after my run I started thinking about the choices we make. In my opinion, almost everything that Americans desire the most require a conscious choice, but seem to be the hardest choices to maintain. The examples that come to my mind are the desires to be wealthy, healthy, happy, and maybe have a relationship with Christ. These things don't happen by chance, they take an effort, and a choice. They require self-control.

For instance:

acquiring wealth will require choosing not to live in the moment and in debt, but rather choosing to sell what you can't afford, waiting to purchase until you have the cash and not the credit, and saving rather than spending. Choose to be responsible for your own money management rather than expecting someone else to bail you out.

being healthy will require choosing to buy fruits and veggies rather than chips and other snacks, choosing not to over indulge, choosing to cut back on drinking and smoking, choosing to exercise, and choosing to care about about more than just an appearance. Being healthy is not just about what you look like, it is about creating a lifestyle that will allow you to climb the stairs and live to see your grandchildren. It is about having control over your life rather than letting your life control you. And since I am on this soap box I will just mention that buying fruits and veggies are not more expensive than the processed stuff and I despise that excuse. You may not be able to buy both, but then again the point is to eat more of the better stuff anyway. Just yesterday I bought bananas for the week, 4 apples, enough carrots for the week, a cucumber, and a bag of oranges all for under $10. These are great substitutes for fiber one bars, 90 calorie snacks, and other lunch accompaniments for the same price if not cheaper. The catch...they may require a little more prep time. That is not much too much to sacrifice.

being happy, well that is just a choice. Life is full of constant ups and downs. Unfortunately, our tendencies can lean more to the crappy rather than the happy. I have been a victim of this for years, but more recently I have found that I want to get away from this. It takes way more energy out of me to actually be grumpy than it does to be happy, but for some reason the grumpy is easier to stir up. In the last year especially, I have consciously spent less time with the people in my life that have a tendency to be grumpy. I find the people that choose to be happy to be much more enjoyable to be around and are very encouraging. Everyday I remind myself that I can choose to be happy too.

Finally, having a relationship with Christ. This is something that is personal to me, but I know there are many others that struggle with it too. This is another thing that you have to choose to do. Just like with any relationship you have to make time for it. You have to choose to read your bible, choose to have quiet time in prayer, choose to praise and worship, and choose to humble yourself. This world makes it real difficult to build a relationship with Christ. There are constant distractions and sinful natures. No one is perfect and sometimes it is just downright easier to take the well traveled path rather than the narrow path of Jesus. At the end of the day though, I would argue that the choice to keep trying to build that relationship is way better than the alternative.

I guess what I am getting at through all this jumble is that the things that are really worth it in this life are the hardest to come by. They aren't things you will just stumble into and they certainly won't just place themselves in your life. They take a choice to be different. They take an effort that this country is forgetting. When you live in a world that is me, me, me, and consume, consume, consume it is easy to forget that wealth, health, and happiness are great investments of time and above all else you need a Savior to carry you through it all.

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"-2 Peter 1:5-8