I don't wanna!

I have been walking early each morning now for a month or so. I have lost twenty five pounds, and I have stopped being a type-II diabetic. I feel better, I hear every once in a while that I look better - though in all honesty I have a long way to go before I would say that I look slim again - and I can move about much more freely. I have more energy. I bring my lunch - In N Out may drop me from their Christmas card list!!

But the most amazing part is that I noticed that I enjoy getting up and moving. I will go get something at the other end of the building at work, or the other end of the house at home. Just to get up and move. I sat in my recliner for the first time in a long time last night after walking a mile and a half, then going to rehearsal and then walking home. It didn't feel right just sitting there, so I finally shut off the movie and went to bed, knowing that five O'clock was going to come around so very early today. This is a fundamental change, and fundamentally, I am mental.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Our pastor has been teaching on this for several weeks now - as part of a larger study. But I realized that if I allow my flesh to rule in my life, it will kill me. Doesn't seem to make sense right off the bat: so many folks seem to feel that our bodies are in touch with some various galactic forces which can guide all parts of their lives if they just 'get in tune with your inner self.' My inner self likes to eat. Not just eat until it is satisfied, but basically eat until it is tired. Or eat until my inner stomach hurts. Or eat until the food is gone. All bad.

So - I am letting my mind take over for awhile. And in my case, my mind is in touch with God, through Christ Jesus, and that makes it a powerful force to be reckoned with. I don't want to do the things I used to do. Amazing. And I'm not some bank-robbing serial killer with a twelve-year-old for a wife, chained up in the basement. I generally fit the mold of normal. I just have a connection to the Almighty inside me. And that is helping me to get over myself, and begin to do the things that I should be doing.

In fact, the call to have a more active ministry at the core of my existence is getting stronger. All because I said "no" to my inner child. Get in touch with your inner child: smack it down.