Have you ever stood near your microwave gritting your teeth and wishing it would hurry up? I guess we all have, even though the microwave is going as fast as it possibly can. Maybe it’s the same with your health goals. A whole month has passed and the scale has not budged nor has your tape measure. Take heart. Achieving goals (worthwhile goals) is not a sprint. More often than not, it’s a marathon.
Abram and Sarai
In the Bible, there was a couple named Abram and Sarai who were advanced in age, but desperately wanted a child. I mentioned them in this post It’s Never Too Late. God appeared to the man one day and took him outside. God said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed God but he had to wait twenty-five years for the fulfillment of the promise.
Track the changes
Twenty-five years, you say. I can’t wait that long to lose this weight, buy that house or find the right husband or wife. You may not have to wait twenty-five years, but it might seem twice as long when you are waiting to achieve your goals. The solution is to exercise patience. Keep track of the changes taking place in you while you wait. You may not be able to get into that smaller pair of jeans, but meanwhile, you are eating healthier, your muscles are becoming firmer and stronger, and you are sleeping better.
Celebrate the changes
Celebrate those changes. Write them in your journal so that when you finally reach your goal, you can look back and see how far you have come. If you can draw a graph, your progress may sometimes look like a squiggly line rather than a straight, upward diagonal. You may have times when you fall off the wagon. Write that down too then pick yourself up and get back on. Abram and Sarai were close to God, yet they made mistakes. Serious mistakes.
Beware of getting tired
They got tired of waiting and Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands. She ordered her husband to sleep with her maid Hagar so they might have a child by her. Of course, Abraham (God later changed their names) readily agreed, and Hagar had the baby. But as so often happens when we don’t wait on God, problems arose when Sarah gave birth to the son God promised her. (Genesis 16; 20). However, God, in His mercy, forgave her and blessed both sons.
Be willing to take baby steps when trying to achieve your goals. Progress may be slow but if you hang in there you will eventually reach your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, experts recommend losing no more than one pound a week. This may seem minuscule if you are trying to lose a lot of weight, but if you keep losing steadily, you would have lost fifty-two pounds by the end of the year. That is quite an achievement.
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