Little "Buts" Turn into Big "Butts."

Luke 14:18a – “But they all alike began to make excuses…”

“Excuses are like armpits; everybody’s got a couple and they stink.”  Mike Warnke, comedian.
 

One of the biggest enemies to establishing and maintaining total health is excuse making.  For more than 30 years, my excuses slowly took pieces of my life away.  Here are my three most used excuses.  Can you relate?:

“BUT I‘ll start tomorrow/Monday/before swimsuit season/New Year’s…”  I know that old adage, “Why put off ‘till tomorrow what you can keep putting off ‘till tomorrow?”  Second Corinthians 6:2 says “Now is the day of salvation.”  The word salvation (soteria) doesn’t just mean the “save me from hell” salvation.  The definition of salvation also embodies health and healing.  Now is the time to care about your health.  Why?  To be fully equipped to do and be everything God called us to be.  Waiting for a perfect time to start never comes!   Ecclesiastes 11:4 – “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”  Think about it.

“BUT it’s so hard…”  When people talk to me about turning their bad health habits around, they usually end with a sigh and say, “But it’s so hard though” and they give up before they even start.  I was trapped into that mode until this thought came to me:

Which is harder; the temporary soreness of well-worked muscles, or the daily stinging pain of the prick of lancet and a syringe of insulin?  Which is harder; sewing seeds of health so that I can be here for the kids in my family, or the pain of leaving them before they graduate high school? Which is harder; my stomach growling for ice cream when I feed it fruit and yogurt instead, or being unable to speak or walk because of a stroke or incapacitated because of a heart attack?

I think you get the idea.

 

“BUT it’s 'the time of woman.'”   (Alright fellers, don’t go to sleep during this part, y’all use your woman's monthly as an excuse to act a fool too.  J)  OK, I know how it is; you feel cranky and tired, you’re really hormonal, and you’d eat wallpaper paste if it tasted like chocolate.  You’ve got premenstrual syndrome, mid menstrual syndrome, AND post menstrual syndrome.  I get it, but let me give you some tips to help you through it:

• Sleep more – go to bed earlier and take naps.  This will help. 
• Drink more water.  Helps with the bloat.
• Talk to a trusted friend when you feel the hormonal rush of wanting to commence to perpetrating violence upon someone.  Deal with the emotions, then you won’t want to eat them away.
• Pray for Divine guidance.  God designed the human body.  God knows your body inside and out.  He knows what works for your body and what doesn’t.

You know, I wasn’t going to tackle this one, but ladies, we have been sold a pack of lies.  We CAN lose weight and maintain health during hormone week.  It just takes diligent effort…a LOT of effort.

So, why am I talking about this anyway?  Because I know that little things matter to my health.  I’ve had the experience of small steps leading to big positive changes in my health.  I’ve also seen little compromises lead to big disappointments on the scale.  I don’t want our little “buts” to turn into big “butts.”