Sunday, July 6, 2008

On the lowcarb front:
As I predicted yesterday, today's weigh-in is a disaster. I am up 5.2 pounds from last Sunday. Now I know that some of that is water weight, but I can't blame it all on that. I don't know what it is with me that I can do so well for a while and then completely land in the mud. I was tempted to not even post the results for today, but I think every struggle and stumble needs to be recorded so that I can see what the patterns are in this journey.

Yesterday I did well. We went to a wedding reception - I stuck with veggies and chicken. Drank 1 diet coke and then water the rest of the evening. So that is a non-scale victory - I focused just on yesterday. Today I will do the same. Hopefully, the news next week will be better. I am trying not to be discouraged, but I keep sabatoging myself and I can't seem to get a handle on this food thing.

But I'm going to keep plugging along anyway.

Here are my stats for today:
Workout: Treadmill
Time: 30 minutes
Ave. Hrt rate: 119
Max. Hrt rate: 150
Calories burned: 210
comparison from last Sunday: up 5.2

Word of the day:
Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'

Reflections from the cornfield:
We are called to enter the Kingdom of God as little children. Children trust - they don't analyze, they take things at face value. A visiting missionary once put it this way. "Little children trust because they have more recently been in the company of God." It's true, you know. As we journey on this earth, we accumulate things - not just material things, but spiritual baggage. A child does not know how to discriminate. He will notice differences, but not in a judgemental way. Bigotry is a learned trait - not something we are born with.

A child trusts that his needs will be taken care of. He doesn't sit around worrying about where his next meal is coming from. He just trusts that when he cries out, he will be given food, or warmth, or clothing, or shelter. But as we grow older, we see things differently. We see that there are people who don't have enough shelter, or enough to eat, or clothes to wear. We grow cynical. Often, we blame God for allowing such things to happen. But who is the body of Christ? We are given that charge to take care of our brothers and sisters. This is not a heavy burden - this yoke is easy - if we act out of love. I never hear this passage from Matthew without thinking of the air from "Messiah" entitled "He Shall Feed His Flock." And he does - at Eucharist through his body and blood and in the world through us. At the end of the Mass the words in latin used to be "Ita Missa Est. " "It is the mission." In English the words now are "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and each other." First comes the love - that is what makes the yoke easy and the burden light. No?




God bless the troops!