Blessed

The girls in my family (me included) have always had a "fat" complex. We are all normal sized, athletic-looking women -- far from obese, but nowhere near twiggy. We are constantly saying to one another that we need to go on a diet, lose weight, "I'm such a cow!" etc. etc. You get the point. My mom usually joins in these little sessions, but always ends by saying -- "You know what? We could be really sick with cancer or be paralyzed or something like that. We should be thankful for the healthy bodies that God has given us. No more complaining!"

I used to work out because I wanted to be ready for whatever sport I was playing. It was easy to be motivated when I had a goal in mind. However, there are times in your life when your only goal for exercise is to stay in shape or to keep from gaining weight. These are the times when it's hard to be motivated and you sometimes dread working out. Last night, I was at the YMCA at the Step Aerobics class that my sister and I signed up for this summer. I used to love Step, but for some reason, I abhor going to this class every Monday and Wednesday. Maybe it's because our teacher is SOOOO BORING -- I don't know. Anyways, here I was, thinking I would rather be anywhere in the world than jumping around on this step when I saw something that made me stop and think.

There was a man in a wheelchair just coming in to the gym. He had no legs -- just a torso that was probably cut off just below his belly button. He would ride his wheelchair around the track twice, then stop for water, then do it again, etc. I was sickened by how selfish I was, by how instead of praising God for the blessing of being able to move around as I please and jump up and down on this step, I had been complaining about having to exercise. I thought about how I feel sometimes when I drive by a really nice house and I think "Do those people know how lucky they are? What must that be like?" You know when you see something that you just really wish that you had, but you know it will never happen? That must be how this man felt watching us in the aerobics room. Did we know how lucky we were?

How did I get so lucky to have a healthy body, free from disease or disability? That could have easily been me in that wheelchair. For this simple reason, I am so blessed.