Lifting Weights

Lifting weights once seemed to me so unnecessary--an activity for people who wanted to feel like gigantors, while the real exercisers were off somewhere running. But as it turns out, I was wrong. Incorporating weight training into your exercise routine is beneficial on many levels: raising metabolism, increasing strength, reducing the risk of injury, heart disease, and other illness. I even read recently that lifting weights can help lift depression. I have no doubt that using weights properly can build both muscle and benefit our health. With a weight in my hand recently, I found myself worrying about upcoming events, things I needed to do, things I wasn't doing well enough, and so forth. To be honest I can't remember exactly what I was worrying about that day. But I remember thinking about the weight I was physically lifting and the weight I was mentally carrying--and marvelling at the illustration. I believe it is possible to use life's resistances/problems to build character and faith. Even so, as it is in weight lifting, a weight is only beneficial to the body when it is lifted and released. Muscles grow during times of rest; to never release a weight would negate any benefits of weight lifting (not to mention look very silly). When it comes to worrying, I think I might resemble a person hauling around a barbell, stubbornly refusing to put it down.

Its only when we release the weight does any growth occur. Similarly its only when we let what has been a burden go to God, that we find a growth in our own lives. Jesus tells us, "Who by worrying can add anything to their lives?" (Paraphrase). By letting the struggle and worry go, what we are saying is that WE TRUST GOD. This is a sure sign of growth. Sure life will have its ups and downs and the downs at times will seem so low that we will never get up again. But the reality is that when I first started to exercise I thought I would never move my arms again. But slowly and surely I gained confidence and strength, and now I look forward to it (well most days).