I can hardly believe I slept through the night last night without waking up even once. Maybe that's because I didn't go to bed until 2am, but even so, I usually wake up at least once a night, if not more, to use the bathroom. Last night, nothing but peaceful sleep and dreaming. Yay me.
I woke up right at 8am and figured I'd give Al another half an hour of sleep before rousing him for the day because today was our first day at the Y. I had a podiatry appointment yesterday morning, so that got in the way of our going. With the hours Al works, it just wouldn't be good to wake him up and get him to the Y any earlier than what we planned on for today.
He actually got up on his own about ten minutes after I did, but I don't think he shared my excitement about going to work out first thing in the morning. He putzed for a bit, but we were still out the door by 9:00am. First stop was Ace Hardware to purchase locks for our gym lockers because you have to supply those yourself. Second stop was the credit union so he could deposit my Social Security check, which actually showed up early this month. From there, we headed straight to the Y.
We probably arrived at 9:30-9:45am, and I tried to get signed up for orientation on the machines, but the person who does that had already left for the day. We walked into the room with all the weights and machines and I went straight for the treadmill. Al got on the eliptical next to me. I didn't wear my Sketcher Shape-Ups today, so I was able to walk the treadmill for 15 minutes. Al didn't stay on the eliptical very long because he was really feeling the burn after just a few minutes. For me, it's going to take a while before I can make it to the eliptical machines. I actually want to get up to 30 minutes on the treadmill, when I have the time to spend on it, which we didn't really today. I'm going to have to work up to the 30 minutes, but that'll be a mile when I can make that a reality.
From there, Al mostly supervised me on the machines to make sure I was using them correctly and wasn't hurting myself. I pretty much stuck to the machines with which I was familiar, the chest press, the butterfly press, leg press, and so on. I tried to re-create, as much as possible, the workout I was doing at physical therapy, minus the nu-step bike machine. In some cases, I could do my 30 reps without a problem, but in others, I was only able to do 20 before my muscles started screaming. That's okay. It's been what? About three months since I've been to therapy and worked out? I thought I was doing pretty well.
Unfortunately, we had to have Al back home by 11am so he could shower and get ready for work, so we really only had about an hour at the gym, but hey, at least it's a start. I don't think we'll be getting much more than that every day because of Al's work schedule, but we'll see. If I could get him up at 8am instead of 8:30 that might be helpful, but I don't really want to push my luck with him. I suppose eventually, when I've established a comfort level of using the facilities there, I could get up and go on my own first thing in the morning and let him sleep, but I'm not there yet.
Anyway, before we left, I signed up for the orientation and someone will call me to set up a time that will work for us, and I also found out that I have three guest passes available for when Amy comes. She can go with me to work out, and the lady who works behind the desk, who is so nice, told me we could work something out for when the three passes are used up. I told her to bring her bathing suit, just in case we decide to use the pool or the sauna. I have to be careful about using the sauna and can't go into the hot tub at all cuz of my diabetes, but I think if I don't stay in for very long it should be okay, and I'll have to bring my flip flops to wear so I'm not barefoot on the hot floor. But we'll see. We may skip the pool all together. Al won't go in the pool with me at all, but I'm determined to get him there at some point.
Today is day eight on this 40-day journey I'm taking with The Purpose Driven Life. I don't always agree with some of the statements the author makes because some of them fly in the face of what I know and believe from my chosen faith path of Catholicism, but for the most part, I am finding this book both interesting and spiritually sound. Today the chapter in the book is about how we are all planned for God's pleasure.
It talks a lot about worship, and not just the kind of worship that takes place in prayer or in a church service, and the author calls out a lot of misuses of the word worship, such as people referring to the music portion of a church service versus the teaching portion. What he pointed out is that it is ALL worship, the music, the teaching, the candles, the prayers, the rituals, even the greeting of other worshippers who have come to give thanks and praise to their God. Every one of those things is worship, but even still, worship is so much more.
Worship is also enjoying life the way God enjoys us. It's feeling the feelings he gave us, he shares with us because we are made in his image. It's thinking about him throughout the day as we go about our daily tasks and do them with joy in our hearts - the sheer joy of being alive and being able to do these things. Each and every activity of our day can be considered worship if we do so with God in mind and offer our joys, sorrows, tasks, and everything else to him.
Point to Ponder: I was planned for God's pleasure.
Verse to Remember: Psalm 149:4a - The Lord takes pleasure in his people.
Question to Consider: What common task could I start doing as if I were doing it directly for Jesus?
I have to say, of all the questions asked so far, this one was almost a no-brainer for me to answer. We all know that I'm not exactly June Cleaver or a model housewife. I'm not very good at keeping the clutter tidy, and I'm not very good at doing the simple things like cooking. I hate to cook. This is probably the one task I could start doing as if I were doing it directly for Jesus. Maybe then cooking will become a joy, and not so much of a chore.
Thank you, Lord, for creating me for your pleasure, and for allowing me to experience the same range of emotions that you also feel because I'm made in your image. I will try to look upon cooking in a different light from now on. Even if I drag my feet about doing it, when I stand up to do it, I promise to think of it as something I am doing for you, so maybe that feet-dragging will stop.
I love you, Lord. Please help me show it in all things.
Amen.
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