All these little cheats to make my life easier, are really just an excuse for me to make my life worse…
I have been training at the gym a couple of times a week with my husband for a few months now.
It started for a number of reasons, which included, feeling generally unfit, noticing weight gain and wanting to spend some time with my husband doing things that were not related to work or running a household.
The only issue is that I am not a very athletic person, and I have very little self-control when it comes to eating and exercising.
At the same time that my husband and I started training, one of my sisters – who is far more disciplined than I ma in these matters – also started to train at the gym.
Fast forward a few weeks from when we started and my sister has lost lots of weight and is incredibly fit, and I – apart from being a little more toned and a little less out of breath when I walk – have lost no weight at all.
And there is a very good reason as to why this occurred in this manner. And the reason is simply that my sister never cheats. You see, she follows the eating plan that is laid out for her, and if she is told to run for a kilometre or lift a certain number of weights or do a certain number of repeats, she simply follows along and does those things. I (and my husband) on the other hand, cheat like crazy with this stuff.
So, for example, when the trainer says that we should eat a certain type of food, we generally do eat it, but we also have lost of excuses for not eating that food and for replacing it with fast food and unhealthy food as well… Additionally, we cheat on the exercises. For example, the trainer instructs us to run around the block as part of the class, and so we run until we are out of sight, and then we walk the rest of the circuit and then, just before we turn a corner and come into the line of vision of the trainer, we begin running again. In this way, the trainer thinks we are working hard when in fact we are really not doing that at all.
And I have been thinking about that. Because that is like the people who say that receiving the sacraments and attending Holy Mass are not necessary for a strong spiritual life – it is a sort of cheating. And just like there will still be come improvement – after all I am a little more toned and a little less puffed-out now – the full potential of the improvement will not be revealed unless I stop cheating and follow the program like my sister.
And I have been thinking about that today. Because all these little cheats to make my life easier, are really just an excuse for me to make my life worse because they simply make me weaker and make the correct choices more difficult for me to make... After all, Christ did not cheat on the Cross – He bore the entire sacrifice in its entirety. And realising that, I feel ashamed. Because I cheat all the time – and not just at the gym…
And that is a sobering thought – a very sobering thought.
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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