My second born will be a year and a half soon. I promised myself I’d get back into ‘shape’ after each pregnancy. The first time around, it wasn’t too difficult to get back into shape. So, at around 40 weeks of pregnancy, I was 20kgs bigger. However, I started running 6 weeks after I gave birth, and I also played action netball. My body started shrinking back, and 9 months after I gave birth I could fit into my skinniest jeans *party party party*???.
The second time however…*cough cough* (lol) eish! Ok, it took me a while! I’d also gained roughly the same amount of weight.
Firstly, it took me forever to get off my butt and start exercising. Ok, in my defense, it wasn’t just because I was lazy. But, let me state that I was actually lazy but that wasn’t the only reason?! Life with two little ones is just on another level, my kids are 25 months apart. It took me forever to adjust and welcome the hecticness as my new life ?.
Anyway, my point here was that I started exercising a few months later. But as well, my body just wasn’t the same as after the first pregnancy ??. Probably because of age and the fact that this was the second time my body was going through this. But within just 3 months of playing action netball, I could see myself lose the extra kilos. And when I joined gym, my body started to firm and tone up *party party party* ????!
BUT!…it seemed as though my stomach had just not gotten the memo ??. Everything was coming back together so nicely, but my tummy was just not budging ?! I actually started looking like I was pregnant again because now I was getting skinnier so my tummy was more out there ….and it doesn’t help that I have one of those big outie belly buttons that just adds to the preggy look ?.
Anyway, I chatted to one of the fitness staff at gym, and he advised me to start focusing on doing abs as often as I could. He said that even if I dedicated 10-15min a day, it would go a long way. I took his advice, I kept my workout routine and just added the ab sessions. I started aiming for a short ab session at least three times a week. Literally, in about a month, there was a noticeable difference. I was stoked, I couldn’t believe it *party party party* ???! Those short ab sessions had made such a difference ….my pregnant look was disappearing lol!
At gym today, I had a thought: what if we were really persistent in working hard on the areas in our character/spiritual life/etc that we struggle with?
We each have things that we know we struggle with/would like to improve about ourselves……(specifically speaking to us Christians: those ungodly traits that rear their heads every so often). Some of these things have become so ingrained in us that we simply accept them as part of our personality, and sometimes we fast and pray against them…..sometimes we nurse them…..sometimes we ignore them. But what if we treated those things like that stubborn post-pregnancy belly fat, and did everything to make sure that they are thoroughly dealt with, and don’t have a chance to breathe?
Let’s say I struggle with forgiving people. What if I stared unforgiveness in the eye everyday and decided that I was gonna go out of my way everyday to express and practice forgiveness all the time, no matter how uncomfortable or how much I didn’t wanna do it, until it wasn’t an issue anymore and unforgiveness didn’t have a hold on me?
Let’s say I have a problem with giving. What if I stared that attitude in the eye everyday, and decided that I was gonna give so much, whether I felt like it or not, whether it was from a comfortable place or not, until giving became something that I do effortlessly? You get my point?
I think sometimes we can get so comfortable with sin, maybe either because we know that God accepts us just as we are, or we’ve believed the lie that that’s just who we are. Either way, brothers and sisters, let’s not allow mediocrity to pin us down when we know we’ve been called to “greaterness” (I’ve officially made this a word :)). If it can take a few weeks to get a handle on belly fat, simply because of dedication and discipline, then how much more will our dedication and discipline achieve in spiritual matters when coupled with the Holy Spirit?