The strength to be ready.

I have a major fitness goal for this summer.

Therefore, there has been a lot of time spent at the gym lately.

I’m not a huge fan of the gym. It provides many moments of awkwardness [strange equipment, horrible bodily smells, sweat that people unknowingly fling on you…].

But, I need to work-out and this is my place so…I go.

The other day, I sat down on the rowing machine. Buckled my shoes into the foot holder. Pulled out the rowing bar and began my thirty minutes of torture I mean, “loving my temple”. [smile]

An older man, who later  said he was 76, sat down on the rower next to me.

“Well hun, what we racing for?” he said to me.

Now, I was quite flattered that the 76 year old man was wanting to race me. I mean, it was a sweet gesture, but I really didn’t want to make him feel bad.

[You know where this is going…]

So we agreed on a bet of a million dollars and off we went.

Well about ten minutes into our racing shin-dig, I was completely out of breath and felt like my heart was about to pound out of my chest.

He smiled at my beat red face and continued to carry on a conversation while so effortlessly rowing away.

Twenty-five minutes later…yes, you guessed it.

I owed him a million dollars.

Ouch.

Ah life…you keep me humble. [smile]

I celebrated with my new 76- year-old friend his victory. I told him how inspired I was to be in THAT kind of shape when I am 76.

He smiled and said, “Hun. It’s the little steps. Just the little ones that count.”

And today, I’m thinking about those very wise words.

When I sat down at the rowing machine, I was very willing and ready to win a bet. But when it came down to it, I didn’t have the strength to do it.

I wasn’t really ready.

I could have sat there and come up with a million excuses as to why this 76 year old man stomped me on the rowing machine.

~This was my first time on the rower.

~I hadn’t had enough protein that day.

~My little people had drained every ounce of energy from me.

Yes, I could have thrown out those excuses. But, my excuses would have sucked.

The past year I’ve been asking God what it looks like to be ready for the things He has for me, our family, our business and so much more.

At first I thought being ready was just being willing. Then I thought, being ready just meant having my bags packed. And I’ve even thought, being ready means making things happen.

I’ve been so wrong.

Through our seasons of trials, humbling experiences, rejection and little steps of preparation we will truly find the reasons to press on.

Sometimes we have to go through a lot of junk to find our focus.

I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. I’m not even the same person I was two years ago. And I’m sure I won’t be the same person I am five years from now.

Takes some growing up to get ready.

I [more than once] have had to put my big girl panties on and take a ginormous pill of  “get over myself”  to move forward.

It takes strength.

Not something that comes easy for a weak-willed girl.

I have had this picture in my mind lately.

It’s a opportunity to build the bridge of strength between us and God. The starting point we can see, but the ending is out of focus.

Each board on this bridge offers another opportunity for God to meet our calamity.

I don’t know how this is going to work out. Good. Lay a board.

We don’t have the money to cover this. Good. Lay a board.

I’m so frustrated, I’m ready to give up. Good. Lay a board.

Then we can know as God opens up doors of opportunity its a sign.

I’m ready, I can handle it, He’s doing this…not me.

There we will find the strength to press on,  look back on the past we have been brought through and be able to say, “Only God. Only God.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

-Proverbs 3:5