Short Story: FOCUS is the word I’ve chosen to keep in mind this year as I accomplish all God wants for me, including reaching my weight loss goals.
Long Story:
During the month of January the morning radio personalities on the national radio station K-Love have been talking about picking out a word for the year 2011. They were making a big deal about having a word for yourself for this year and how it helped each of them last year, yada. yada. Honestly, I thought this was silly every time I heard them talk about it, but nonetheless it got me thinking.
If I had to pick one word to encourage, motivate, describe or in any way keep in the back of my mind this year what would I pick? hhmmm…. Overcome? Finish? “Ah well”, I’d think, “I’m not picking one anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Of course, it kept nagging me, because I thought, “It could be a good thing to have one word to remind me what I’m doing in life.” hhmmm… more thinking….
Then our pastor preached a week or so ago on staying focused. He used the scriptures around Philippians 3:14, which happened to be my scripture on my high school graduation announcements.
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ”
He preached on staying focused on what God wants of us; watching out for distractions that would take us away from serving God. It was an answer to prayer, because I tend to get distracted and lose focus in many areas of my life.
I’ve always known this, but it was really brought out to my attention when I kept wondering what it is that keeps me from losing weight more steadily. As I began some serious introspection I realized, er, was willing to admit, I get distracted easily and lose focus on on projects and goals.
I set out to start something wonderful and then I end up not finishing it. Okay, I do get some things done, but I have a box full of unfinished projects and half a room full of craft stuff that’s waiting to be made into the perfect “______”. I even have cards that never got mailed and, more than I care to admit, I have days that seem to fly by with really nothing to show for them. Put me at work or with an appointment and I’m fine, but left to myself…*shaking head*…slightest distractions can keep me from getting things completed in a timely manner.
Okay…focus…focus…for the sake of my blog I’ll stick with the weight loss area of my life in this.
Gosh, countless times I find myself doing well part of a day, part of a week and then not the rest of the time. That’s what leads to great losses some weeks and not-so-great losses, or no loss, others. I know I’m not alone in this, but it’s not something to be taken lightly when it’s stopping me from reaching my goals.
I know it’s okay to lose slowly and if it takes forever, then fine…unless it’s simply because I’m getting distracted and not staying focused. Then, I don’t think it is okay. I need to get with it and “git er done”.
So, I prayed and committed to being more focused. Focused on what God wants of me as a woman, wife and mother, including being focused on reaching my weight loss goal. I know making it to the end of this journey ultimately is up to me. As I pray and work on staying focused I’ll have to remind myself of that fact often. Like it says in James 2:26:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
Post Script
To start I bought a weekly calendar to write down chores I need to complete daily, just one or two things that HAVE to get done…and “workout” is one of them. 🙂
My New Ending 
Hmmmmm….very interesting exercise. Now you have me mulling over MY word…I'll continue thinking about it, but off the top of my head I'd say BALANCE. I tend to get myself all weighed down with the extremes– I have this mental image of myself one day learning to stand in the middle of the seesaw, balanced perfectly over the center, so that the line is a straight, even plane. Ahhhhh…yes. Balance!
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“I know it's okay to lose slowly and if it takes forever, then fine…unless it's simply because I'm getting distracted and not staying focused.”
THANK YOU for this important reminder. I am constantly frustrated when my weight loss slows down. This is a lifetime journey and each healthy choice I make moves my further in the right direction- even if it's at a turtle's pace.
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Focus is a great word to choose! I know the feeling of those 'unfinished' projects..I'm trying to play catch up with my scrapbooking projects I have everywhere.
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