kenlassblog

Recently I noticed that my pants were fitting a little too tightly around my waist. I had gained a few unwanted pounds. So I decided to cut back on eating and rededicate to daily exercise. After three days, I had lost three and a half pounds. I was so excited! But when I got on the scale after the fourth day, I had actually GAINED a pound back!

It ruined my whole day. I was depressed and grumpy. All that effort and willpower I had mustered up, all for nothing. “What’s the use?” I asked myself, and I was really tempted to just forget the whole thing and binge again.

Life is like that. You’re okay with making the effort to choose godly decisions so long as things are going well. But when adversity hits, it’s easy to ask yourself “Why should I be a good person when all this trouble comes anyway?” You’ve got to find a little patience. Be in it for the long run. Understand there will be setbacks. Eventually matters will right themselves.

I’m not losing weight as quickly as I would like, but it is happening gradually. The weight of your burdens will ease as well. Don’t lose faith.

Isn’t it amazing how certain abilities become so second nature to us, we don’t even think about them. For example, writing something down or signing our name. We just grab a pen or pencil and scribble it out without giving thought to how to form the individual letters. We’ve long forgotten how difficult it was to learn to write.

I was reminded of this recently when helping my four year old grandson with his pre-school homework. He is trying so hard to learn to write his name. But he keeps making his d’s and b’s and s’s backwards. His j’s and p’s also often face the wrong way. But he’ll keep working at it, and eventually he’ll get it, and ultimately he won’t even have to think about it anymore.

Living a righteous life and making good decisions work the same way. It’s hard at first, and it takes a lot of practice. But you’ll get it. And eventually it will become who you are. It’s worth the effort.

It would seem that our bodies are built with moving parts for a reason. We need to move. Exercise is becoming more and more important because technology is lessening the need to move. Your body will forget what it doesn’t have to do. So you have to make it move every day, train it to stay capable of meeting your needs.

It doesn’t have to be some intense, bodybuilding workout. It could just be a walk, or push-ups against a door in your house, or squats, or marching in place. Getting involved in social recreation such as pickleball, tennis and golf is a great idea. Try gardening, trim the hedges, mow the lawn. Just something. As we get older, being sedentary gets more and more dangerous.

Turn off the TV, put down the book, stand-up and move. Remind all of your moving parts that they still have an important job to do.

Would you say that you are a person of courage? The dictionary defines courage as “the ability to do something that frightens you”. A secondary definition is “strength in the face of pain or grief”. I guess we really don’t know how much courage we have until we are confronted by adversity.

But I don’t think courage in a crisis comes spontaneously. It is an outgrowth of confidence and preparation. Build your life upon a solid and godly foundation. Know and trust that you are loved and protected. No matter what befalls you, you win in the end.

You wouldn’t be human if adversity didn’t frighten you, and bring you pain and grief. But you don’t have to let it control you. Push through it and keep your focus on your eternal reward. That’s what real courage looks like.

Are you feeling small and insignificant? Don’t feel appreciated or acknowledged? You need to take a lesson from the stapes. The stapes is the smallest bone in your body. It is a little more than one tenth of an inch long and is located in your inner ear. Chances are you never knew it was there, and will never see it during your lifetime, much less appreciate and acknowledge it.

Yet this tiny bone is essential to your ability to hear. Without it, you would be denied the use of one of your most important senses. It plays a crucial role in transmitting sound vibrations from the ear drum to the inner ear.

You may think you are just one person, one small, insignificant person, but you have the ability to make an important difference in your world. Be a blessing to others and watch the world change around you. And remember, every time someone says “thank you for your kindness”, your little stapes will allow you to hear it.

I was out on a walk in a public park today when a middle aged woman came walking toward me from the opposite direction. Whenever I encounter someone during my walks, my reflex is to smile and say Good Morning, which is exactly what I did. The woman turned her head and stared directly at me, but she didn’t smile, and then just turned away and walked past me without saying a word.

I don’t why this bothers me, but it does. When I present a friendly greeting to someone, I guess I expect some sort of gesture in return. Just an acknowledgement of any kind, even if it’s just a smile. Her ignoring of me set me into a temporary funk. How rude, I thought. I suppose we don’t realize how even our briefest and most inconsequential actions might affect other people.

Fortunately, my mood brightened a minute later when two ladies walking side by side approached. They returned my greeting with a warm “Good morning! How are you today?” accompanied by a pair of big smiles.

Now, was that so hard?

Whenever I go to the beach I am always intrigued by the folks who love to fish from the shore. To me, they are the personification of patience. I see them out there, casting into the rolling waves, all day long. After setting their line in the salt water, they affix the rod to one of those metal pole holders in the sand, and wait for a strike. They wait…..and wait…..and wait.

Honestly, I’ve been going to the beach for forty years, and I’ve never once seen them catch anything. Never. Yet they take their place faithfully each day, trusting that this might be the moment they hook something. Anything.

We would do well to learn from these people. I’ve never been very interested in fishing, but I envy the determination and optimism of these anglers. I’m willing to bet those qualities have served them well in the other aspects of their life. They must be very successful.

Otherwise, how would they have so much time for fishing?

On a recent stay at the beach I found myself watching a young father playing with his infant daughter. The little girl was crawling and desperately trying to pull herself up and walk like Daddy. But every time Daddy let her go she would lose her balance after a few shaky steps and tumble.

How difficult it must be for a child to learn to stand up and balance on those two little legs, and then put one in front of another and walk. Most of us just take walking for granted. We do it without thinking. It is second nature. But for that little girl, it must have seemed an impossible task. One day, she’ll get it. What a joy that will be for her! Then as it becomes routine, it will lose its excitement.

Thank you, Lord, for blessings that have become so automatic, we fail to appreciate them. May we always experience your grace with the excitement of a child.

It is late Sunday morning and I just got home from church. I’m always in a good mood after church. Not exactly sure why. Probably because it’s just such a positive environment to be part of. Everyone is trying their hardest to be the best version of themselves.

I have cynical friends who claim that church is just full of hypocrites who only pretend to be nice on Sunday morning. I have not found this to be true. I have met countless folks who are earnestly trying to live godly lives, and to reflect that effort in the way they treat people. It’s not easy to walk a consistent spiritual path in these days of rampant temptation and moral indifference, and many of us, myself in particular, often fail. Maybe that’s where the cynicism comes from.

But hope is out there, and I firmly believe church is the best place to find it.

Every day we bring the mail into the house and sift through all the junk mail and solicitations. And of course, there are bills. Seems a different one every day. Gas, heating and air, electricity, internet, TV service, health and auto insurance, internet apps and more. I guess we just don’t realize how many services and products we use until the bills come. We enjoy the comforts and conveniences, but sooner or later, there is an accounting. You have to pay up, or lose the benefit.

True at the end of our time as well. We are blessed with the incredible privilege of life. We enjoy its pleasures and rewards. But there will be an accounting for the paths we have taken. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you have settled up with God. That you are right with Him in the decisions you are making now.

His bill is one you can’t afford to let slide.