How embarrassing.  I have not blogged since October and here it is the second full week of November already.  Life has been so awfully busy and with the Holiday season upon us, I shudder to think of how much busier it can get.

Besides my job, taking care of things at home, and taking a certain daughter to doctor’s appointments, I have taken on a gym membership.  I am trying to get there at least three days a week.  This aging body is craving attention and I am doing it for me.  Most of the other stuff I do is for someone or something else.  So gym time is my time.

The gym I go to is brand new so everyone is a new member.  And boy oh boy do members come in all shapes, sizes, and ages!  As I gaze at the menagerie of different people working out on various machines, I can only smile and think “Way to go!”  There are so many out of shape, overweight, and not so fit people who are brave enough to work out the best they can to try and attain a better physique and health.

It made me think 🙂

Nobody is perfect.  Most of us are hoping and trying to be smarter, thinner, more creative, more thoughtful , more organized, happier, maybe more sober, or more faithful.  You can fill in your own blank – I wish I was more ___________.  And we are never going to reach perfection – that will only happen in heaven and I don’t plan on going there any too soon.  Life is really all about becoming the best we can be.  We go to school to learn more.  We may take classes or practice to be better artists, cooks, parents, or Christians.  I think once we give up on becoming better at anything, well then we’ve pretty much given up on living.  Oh sometimes, we have to keep starting over.  If I fail to get to the gym a few times, I probably will stop for a couple of weeks before I boot my butt back there.  Alcoholics can fall off the wagon.  But as long as we keep reaching higher – for something better – as long as we can get back in the saddle again and keep reaching for that higher standard.

I was reading from Matthew, chapter 5 today about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Talk about higher standards and becoming more Christ-like!  None of us will ever become the perfect Christian.  But that’s okay as long as we keep trying.  We are to be “the salt of the earth” and to “let our light shine.”  I can do that.  It didn’t say we had to pour out and cover everything with our saltiness – people aren’t going to like that!  But if we can sprinkle humanity with a bit of the flavor of Jesus’ love and grace … give them a taste.  And we are to shine – not blind people with the good news of Jesus.

So I am going to try and keep going to the gym at least three days a week.  I am just going to keep trying – just like I will keep trying to be a better Christian.    I know that some days my progress is miniscule, but at least I have some higher standards to reach for.  Can’t blame a girl for trying.

I hope I can blog for you more often, too.

From the very wise German Reformer, Martin Luther:  “How soon not now, becomes never.”

Just Laurel