Bible – Sweat & Sparkle

This popped up as the verse of the day recently on an app I use. We had just spent most of the day visiting with two of the kids and one of our grandsons, so it was absolutely perfect timing.

The three-day weekend blasted past us and was over before I was ready. The main reason it went by so quickly, though, is because we had such a beautiful time. Nothing wild and crazy, no fancy trips, no huge plans…nope, even better. My husband and I enjoyed time together, date night, then also had fun visiting with the kids and holding, spoiling, and loving on our younger grandson.

My husband sat with one long leg stretched out so he could bounce our grandson on his knee. Our grandson loved it, looking up at him with a huge smile on his little face, laughing. My husband joked that I can’t bounce him as well because my feet don’t touch the floor, which is kind of true, but don’t tell him I admitted that.

I took a few pictures of them together. Our grandson’s face is slightly blurry, since he was bouncing at the time, but the happiness on his face is perfectly clear. Our daughter-in-law took a few pictures and sent them to us later: our grandson standing in between us, or sitting on my lap and curiously examining my necklace.

I have always loved watching my husband with the kids, but there’s something extra magical about watching him with our grandkids. Even if his back hurts, even if he worked hard all day, he forgets all of that to get on the floor, wrestle with the older grandson, lift the younger one high in the air, whatever it takes to put a smile on their face and make them laugh.

He is loving, giving, gentle, protective. Seeing him as a grandfather just gives me one more reason to love him even more than I thought was possible.

My treasure is him, the kids, our grandkids, our home, my brothers, my family. And that absolutely is where my heart lives, where I find my joy and my peace, and all of my love.

It is very important to me that my weight loss adventure (I hate the overused word “journey”) is built on more than my body, or a number on the scale, or a size on a tag. True change and growth must start inside, or it really doesn’t mean much to me.

My mother was deeply religious, and I was raised Catholic. I haven’t been to church in a long time, but it’s not because I don’t believe; it’s because the typical church just isn’t what I’m looking for. I believe in spirituality, in being good to each other, in love. I don’t believe in grandstanding, plastering pictures on Facebook to demand that others praise how godly you are, in using fake religion for image or self gain. And I see far too much of that in every church I have been inside to feel drawn to try to grow there.

One of the kids recently saw my Bible on the coffee table and apparently was a bit surprised that it was mine. I chuckled when my husband told me. Yeah, I am not a “turn the other cheek” person. I am a “come at me if you want to find out what happens” kind of person. But not being a stereotypical church lady does not mean that I don’t value spirituality or growing as a person.

When I was hunting for a fitness challenge, I came across the Forty Forty Challenge: walk or run one mile a day, for 40 days, with a Bible reading each day. The challenge focuses on “developing our bodies…both physically and mentally”, and I smiled when I read that and knew I had found my challenge.

I started on Sunday. Today is day #6. They shipped my medal to me already, but I don’t want to take it out of the box until day #40 is finished. I want to celebrate completing the challenge by finally hanging up my Forty Forty medal.

I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that this week, the week I started this challenge, is when I finally fell back into step, and things started to click again. Taking care of my mind, body, and soul, all at once–not singling out the body and ignoring the rest–is my goal and my focus from here on out. I really don’t believe lasting, substantive change can happen any other way.