I just love a good challenge! Well, I don’t exactly love the challenge part of it per say, but I usually love the results of a challenge. Since about half of our normal activities are on summer break, I think this is an excellent time to do a new challenge. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still quite busy during the summer, but it is a tad more laid back than during the school year. I talked to the Husband about my challenge idea this morning, and I believe he’s going to join me (Hooray!). He’s already in pretty good shape, so I’m sure he’s agreeing more out of moral support than anything.

I am opening this 12 week challenge period to anyone who would like to join me. All you have to do is let me know that “you’re in” via the comments on this post. Certainly you may email me privately as well, but there is something powerful about committing to something in a public format. I won’t ask you to share your weight or anything you deem to personal. The details you share are up to you.

Please begin thinking about how you plan to challenge yourself over the next 12 weeks. Maybe you want to exercise more. Maybe you want to follow a specific eating plan. Maybe you want to drink more water or get more sleep at night. Maybe you want to get off caffeine or dump junk food. Maybe you want to spend time in God’s Word daily. Maybe you just want to keep your laundry caught up (I have a pile of dirty clothes outside the laundry room door, and a pile of clean clothes on the floor of my bedroom at the moment). The choices are endless, and they are totally up to you. I have no idea what you struggle with day to day, or where your fitness level is right now. Whatever it is, be specific when you write out the goals of your challenge. For example:

I will complete Beth Moore’s study of Daniel.

I will follow the 80/10/10 low-fat, raw vegan plan for the next 12 weeks.

I will track my calories to ensure I am eating enough.

I will do my best to adhere to the half-marathon training schedule I come up with prior to the start of the challenge.

I will do some kind of strength training three days per week.

I will blog about my experiences throughout the challenge to keep me accountable.

Simply writing out the goals is a good step, but if we don’t plan how we’ll accomplish them, they probably won’t come into being. So, the next step is to look at each goal and come up with a plan to keep yourself on track. For example, I am planning to track my calories to ensure I am eating enough. I need to decide how and what tools I’ll use to help me do this. The same thing for my strength training goal. Will I follow a specific plan? What days of the week will I lift weights? What time of day is likely best for getting it done on those days?  Be as specific as possible in building your plan. Also, don’t just “think” it through, write it down.

Lastly, we need to come up with some things we hope will result from the challenge. For example, I’m hoping to lose weight and have more energy as a result the challenge. I’m also hoping to increase my athletic performance, sleep better, and complete another half-marathon. Other ideas could be: break a caffeine addiction; make a habit out of keeping my laundry clean, folded, and put away; draw closer to God; get rid of cravings; stabilize blood sugar; lower cholesterol; improve BMI; get into my skinny jeans… etc. Again, be as specific as possible and determine if there is a way you can track your results. These results are probably your motivating factors. If you don’t “want it” bad enough, you’ll likely slip back into your old habits more quickly. Your motivating factor will be what you read when you have a really, really, really bad day and that cup of Joe is calling your name. Or you might be so tired from running your kids all over creation (and listening to them gripe), that the last thing you want to do is fold clothes. It’s in that moment that you must look at the results (I want to have clothes to wear, and I don’t want to trip over stuff on the floor).

Even as we are writing out what we hope will result, we must understand that the results are not our responsibility. These are the things we desire to happen, but if we are only focused on “making it happen” then we’ll become discouraged if for some reason the results aren’t living up to our expectations. Our responsibility is to work our plans. Do the workouts, eat the food, fold the laundry, say “no” to the coffee… you get the idea. We must leave the results to God. Let Him bless our efforts and bring about the reward.

Now, when will we start? I know this will seem like an odd day of the week to “begin”, but I’m setting the date for Tuesday, May 29th. The reason is, it’s after Memorial Day weekend. I’m also picking Tuesday because it will help me to break out of that mindset that says, “I can’t start during the week. I must wait until the beginning of the week.” You know how we’ll tell ourselves, “Oh well, I’ve messed up this week, I’ll start again next week.” I want us to learn that we can get a “do-over” any day of the week. We don’t have to wait till “weigh in day”, or till Monday, or till the first of the month, or till the new year. We can do this immediately. So, why are we waiting till after Memorial Day? That’s easy. It’s to give us a few days to write up our plans and prepare our minds. Also, most of us already have Memorial Day weekend plans that probably don’t include focusing on habit changes.

If you would like to blog the challenge with me, please link back to this post. Be sure to let me know so I may visit your blog and cheer you on. If you’re not a blogger, please feel free to participate in the comments section of this blog. There is strength in numbers!

I’m looking forward to what the next 12 weeks will bring!

Every morning I try to read from a little devotional book called Breaking Free Day by Day. I enjoyed yesterday’s verse so much, I read it again today:

“With you I can attack a barrier, and with my God I can leap over a wall.” Psalm 18:29 (HCSB)

I picture Superman flying Lois Lane around Metropolis. On her own, Lois can’t leap over much more than a puddle; Yet, with Superman, leaping over a wall is possible. Obviously, Superman’s power is confined to comic books and FX tricks, while God’s power surpasses our imagination.

So often I ask God to help me fight through a barrier. I’m sure I look like a complete dork flailing my arms about and screaming, but I’m comfortable asking for help with barriers. I rarely ask Him to help me leap over walls though. I beat my head against them over and over, wondering why they won’t move. Hello, dorky fighting chick, walls are much harder to move than barriers.

I wonder if Joshua would have found it even more strange if God had told him to leap over the walls of Jericho. Can you just imagine the army standing there and then suddenly they are airborne? Even in the story of Joshua and Jericho, God didn’t tell them to “attack” until He took the walls down. They needed more than assistance, they needed Almighty-God-sized power to overtake that stronghold.

In war, strongholds don’t come down by beating your head against them. Strongholds are formidable and impenetrable. That’s why they are called strongholds. The true fighting doesn’t begin until you get inside. I must be willing to let God knock down walls or take me right over the top of them. Then I can do battle, and with God I will gain the victory.

Lord, I’m ready to leap!

A while back I wrote a couple of stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul. I submitted them, but never heard back about whether they were rejected or not. Part of the submission asked for my email; so, of course, I’ve received emails from the publishers ever since. Most of the time I don’t open them, but just over a week ago, I got one with a title that caught my attention.

“Eating My Idols”

How on earth could I not click on that? Great article, although the author misquoted the Bible – which I am amazed was never checked. I know it was a misquote because the extra phrase they included was what made me look it up. The line wasn’t there… in any version I tried. However, there was another phrase that would stick in my brain for days to come.

“…do the work…”

The last I checked, I don’t have a “Bewitched” nose that I can wiggle and get whatever I desire. If I want money in my savings account… I have to make a point to put it in the account and leave it there. If I want vegetables to grow in my yard… I have to plant, water, tend to them. If I want to do well in my writing class… I have to read the lessons and follow the directions. Well, the same is true when it comes to this body. It is highly unlikely that I will wake up tomorrow with a brand new body (unless I wake up in heaven that is). If I want to run a half-marathon next month, I must do the work to train for it. If I want to lose a few pounds, I must do the work it takes to track what I eat. I can’t expect God to act like Santa Clause or a genie. He’s God. He knows I (like most people) would learn absolutely nothing by having everything handed to me.

The good thing is, He will help me do the work. When I struggle, and call on Him for strength, He’s there. I’m not alone in it, but I’m also not without responsibility. This morning I did not want to run in freezing high winds. I wanted to stay inside, but I realized I wanted something else more than I wanted to skip the run. I wanted to get another training run checked off. I wanted to burn some calories. I wanted that feeling of accomplishment at the end. So, I told myself to, “do the work.”

The other night I was all cozy in bed (super early) with the electric blanket cranked up.  Suddenly I realize that I’m hungry… hmm, what is a girl to do?  Fortunately, I have one of those husbands who recognizes that I’m all snug and cozy and volunteers to fix me a green smoothie.  He brings this gorgeous glass of pure energy to me.  I take a sip.  “So, what did you put in it?”  He starts rattling off a list of stuff while I take another sip.  “Did you wash the spinach?”  (cricket, cricket)

“What do you want to hear?” asks my darling man.

I knew the answer to the question before I even asked it because that last sip clearly had dirt in it.  Just a couple of days before, we purchased some spinach that looked like it was bundled in the mud.  I was only washing the leaves as I used them so the rest of the bunch was still dirty.  We use the question “what do you want to hear” a lot at our house.  The Husband loves this response because it’s guaranteed to get a smile out of me even if I want to say something like, “why on earth would you serve me muddy spinach!”  Of course, I use it too.  “Honey, did you remember to wash my running socks?”  Uh oh.

I wonder if Cain’s first response to God when asked about his brother’s whereabouts was actually something like, “What do you want to hear, God?”  Saying, “I’m not my brother’s keeper,” is basically the same thing though.  He’s trying to hide, to deflect, whatever he can do to avoid facing the truth.

“Saul, why do you persecute my people?”

“What do you want to hear, God?”

“Adam, Eve, why are you hiding?”

“What do you want to hear, God?”

“Jonah, how did you end up in the gut of that fish?”

“Um, what do you want to hear, God?”

Don’t think for a minute that God needs us to answer these questions so He will know the answers.  He already knows the answer… which is why we deflect the question.  Silly humans that we are.  We cannot hide from Him so why not confess and let the forgiveness pour over us?  If you’re wondering God’s response to the question, “What do you want to hear, God?”  It is simply, and in His most Fatherly, loving, compassionate, understanding, beautiful, comforting voice…

“The truth, Beloved.”

It still amazes me that He loves us even when we’re offering Him muddy-spinach lives.

But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.  ~ Romans 5:8 (AB)