my "why's"

Why get healthy?

Why learn, and change, and be kind to your body?

Your "Weak and Lovely" challenge this week was to remind yourself why.  And I'll share my list with you in a moment. But first, I want to get out the why-nots. Change is hard, and we can acknowledge that.

Why I don't want to make healthy choices

• It's easier to just keep doing what is easiest.
• Change requires more thought and planning. 
• I risk cooking a meal that my family will not like. I'll have to listen to complaints while knowing I have wasted money.
• I really like cheese. And coffee. (not together.)
• I don't want to learn moderation.
• I like handing my kids a bag of treats, hearing their gratitude, and knowing they will be cheerfully eating their treats for ten happy minutes (even if the treats are a bag of sugar coated chemical puffs.)
• The more I learn, the more I want to avoid processed foods- but then I wonder, when is this going to end? Must I really raise my own meat or figure out a way to live on wheatgrass?
• Self control is exhausting. 
• Again, it is SO much easier to keep doing what is easiest.

Ok, now here's the other list, for me.

Why Bother?

My body is a gift from God and a temple of the Holy Spirit.  This means that I ought to treat it with special care. It also means that, by grace, God is in me and will help me. (God help me be kind to my body today!  Make me want to, and help me remember why!)

• When I am kind to my body, I am more likely to be a fun and energetic mommy.
• When I make healthy choices, I am more cheerful, and I feel good.
• When I feel good, I have more patience and a better relationship with my dear children.
• When I exercise, I sleep better. When I am full of sleep, the whole world looks better.
• When I serve my family a healthy meal, the food actually nourishes those precious bodies that I love. I like knowing that I have a hand in that.
• When I fill the fridge with fruit and veggies, the kids eat them! (They really do! I am shocked!)
• When I exercise, my head is clearer and I am less vulnerable to depression.
• When I exercise, my thoughts are more organized.  I can think and write more effectively.
• When I make healthy choices, I get more done in a day.
• When I make healthy choices, I set a good example for my children.
• When I make healthy choices, I am less prone to sickness and diabetes.
• When I make healthy choices, I have more clothes to wear and I look better and feel better about my looks.
• When I make healthy choices, I am a better wife.
• When my body is cared-for, I can serve others better. I am able to be more faithful to my vocations.
• When I exercise, I burn off stress in a healthy way. This is good for me and for my family!
• When I care for my body, it works better and allows me to enjoy life more.

Lord, thank you for the gift of health and this amazing body.  Thank you for using it to bear six children, for sustaining it through these past thirty years, for all the things it has allowed me to do.  Teach me to be a good steward of this body.  Help me to tenderly care for it even as you have taught me to care for my children.  Help me to make good choices that will keep my body working well, as much as it is in my ability.  Teach me to love the foods that give me health and energy, and help me use self control in eating.  Thank you for making me a wife and a mother, and for equipping me for my daily tasks.  Continue to use me to love and serve Your children as long as you desire, only sustain me in body and spirit throughout my days on earth.  Amen.

P.S. Writing this post made me really hungry.
God help me be kind to my body today!  Help me to make my next choice a healthy one!

What is on your lists?

What's hardest for you about healthy change?

Why do you bother?

photo credit findley chiropractic