Instruments not Ornaments Part 2

Now that I think about it, I should have switched the pictures...you'll get it once I explain it! 

   So, in summary: we left off seeing that viewing physical fitness simply as how we look and feel is fairly shallow and doesn't get us (me) very far. I also told the story about Gary Thomas taking care of the folder because it wasn't his and how different things would be if we did the same with our bodies.

   Now, how SHOULD we look at physical fitness if not by how it affects how we look and feel? What other way is there to look at it? Well...by how it affects our soul, of course! Hm...I guess that's not so self explanatory.

   Okay, let me explain it this say. 

   Saying no when you don't need to eat something builds discipline to be able to say no to other kinds of temptations; stopping eating at a certain point does away with gluttony; initiating healthy eating builds a desire to initiate other healthy things even so far as to say, ministry!

   When you give up working out and eating healthy, chances are you're giving up on other areas of discipline also.

   The truth is, having an active lifestyle will allow you to serve God stronger and harder for a longer period of time. Like I mentioned in part 1, you could be as thin as a rail but that doesn't go hand in hand with being fit. If you tire out easily, feel lethargic often, have frequent 'lazy days', don't be deceived that these are only affecting your fitness level, they will also affect your passion to serve God. 

   Of course, there's nothing wrong with chilling out and relaxing. In fact God commands us to have a rest day. Genesis 2:3 says, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Note the bolded portion; in order to rest, you have to have something you're resting from. There has to be previous work done in order to merit a rest. Otherwise it's not resting. It's laziness. 

   If you haven't figured out where the 'instruments not ornaments' phrase came from by now, in a nutshell it's this:
   Ornaments are beautiful, above is one like what my mom made for all the boys in our family this Christmas, 'melted snowman' (the girls got cupcakes- SUPER cute!). Truth is, though, they hang and look nice. That's it. And even the phrase 'look nice' is subjective to opinion. Maybe, someone wouldn't like a cupcake or a melted snowman. Ornaments and decorations are subject to personal taste and everyone's differs.
   Now an instrument usually does look pretty cool to. My husband got me a violin for Christmas and I think it's the classiest looking thing! But it has a USE, it plays some pretty beautiful music. (I don't...yet...but it is capable of doing so, if placed in the right hands!)
   So, I acts ya: Would you rather be an ornament, pretty but useless; or an instrument, when placed in the Creator's hands, made to do something absolutely beautiful?

   Do not focus on wanting to look and feel good about yourself. In and of itself, these are NOT bad things at all...we should want to look and feel our best but it is the reasoning behind it that is important. Actually, this ties in to the whole reason I started this blog. If our reasoning is vanity, this is wrong. But what if wanting to feel and look our best was because, every day, we woke up and said, "What gives me the most energy to be used by God, today?" Now that, is very good.

   

    

Instruments Not Ornaments Part 1

THE INSTRUMENT

   I was driving home from the Prescott conference a couple of weeks ago, listening to a Christian radio station that was playing their 'Focus on the Family' session when this guy, Gary Thomas came on the show to promote his book 'Every Body Matters'.  I was so inspired listening to him that I took a bunch of notes while I was driving (I spoke them into the microphone and the phone typed them for me; don't worry I wasn't writing out a blog while I was driving!) and now I have comprised them into a blog post.

   Also, I have recently been trying to lose weight and am considering doing the HCG diet so any time some one mentions keeping in shape and tips to do so, I perk up. These were different kind of tips though, a different perspective on being in shape and I just have to share.

 

   Gary Thomas began with a story that I must retell in order for you to get what I did, out of this. I hope there's nothing illegal about writing about all this. Haha. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough if there is! As far as copy write infringement goes, I have mentioned his name and his book and am not saying this story is my own! 

   So...story time...

   Gary was writing with a senator, a bio about the senator's life (I believe my memory serves me right). Well,  before Gary left one evening, the senator handed him a file. In that file, he told Gary, were a bunch of letters and things the senator's father had written to him that he wanted Gary to review for the book. I should mention, these papers were the originals, not copies. Gary was kind of in a panic trying not to take the papers because, in his words: "If you saw my office, you'd think differently of me." Apparently, Gary has a paper problem. His office is covered in random papers, not all of which he knows what they are! He's always having to reprint lost or misplaced papers for some reason or another. So, being given this original folder full of extremely sentimental letters made him slightly crazy. He did not let that folder out of his sight once, the whole time he had it. I believe it was an entire week. Gary kept tabs on it every moment, he had to know where it was at every second. He was so determined not to lose it...because...and here's the punch line...it wasn't his. 

   

   Now the comparison Gary drew was....what if we treated our bodies the same way?  Because in reality, as a Christian, my body is not my own but God's. The bible says so. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." I think that's pretty clear.  Growing up, I thought that meant things like not getting tattoos, smoking, drinking, taking drugs, etc. Which I don't doubt it does, however, maybe being in shape is something we can add to that? Let me explain (with Gary's help, even though he doesn't know it.)

   Looking at physical fitness in terms of how you look or feel is one way of seeing it, but that doesn't help us for very long. I feel like a big lump of lard and then I start working out, I realize how hard this is going to be, and my standard for how I look and feel drops drastically and I decide I look and feel great and working out isn't necessary. Maybe that's just me! 

   I remember one time specifically, I had gone shopping and was so depressed at the size of clothes I was having to buy, I went to my friends house to work out instead, determined to keep up the work and lose the weight. I was no more than 20 minutes into my work out doing an exercise that required me to leave my right leg on the floor, lift my left leg straight behind me and lean over until my body was parallel with my left leg. One hand was holding onto a table for balance and the other was pulling a weight up to my shoulder. I distinctly remember looking down and my leg and thinking, "It actually looks pretty toned! What am I sweating like this for?! Forget it, I'm not that bad off." Remember, just 2 HOURS earlier I was completely disgusted at my clothes size!! 

   I did 2 things wrong there: I based my fitness level on how I looked and felt at the time and I based my fitness level on the size of my body. Being skinny does not mean you are in good shape. I have a friend who is several sizes larger than me, yet she can outrun me, out-swim me, out-ANYTHING me on any given day! She is in such better shape than I am! 

   So, hence my point about how looking at physical fitness in terms of how you look and feel doesn't go the distance for some of us (me). Some of us (me) need a spiritual look at things before we realize how important they really are. These are the things that will be discussed in Instruments Not Ornaments Part 2....

   

Cute as a B....anana...

^My Sister- The Cute Banana. Read on...

 

 Yes, I know it's been over a month since I've posted as my mother so kindly reminded me and that it IS amusing and a little ironic that my last post was entitled "Taking a Day Off" and then I took over a month off! Then my sister told me a funny story of something that happened to her that I must (with her permission) re-tell and tonight I heard an inspiring story on the radio that made me get all in writing mode. (The radio post will come tomorrow or in a couple of days.)

   I'm going to call this post a testimonial. From someone who got inspired from reading the blog to try and put in some extra effort to herself! If you send me a story of something that happened to you or a change you made because of reading this blog, if you want me to, I will re-post the story in order to inspire others!  Send your story privately, not in a comment so as not to ruin the surprise of the post! I don't know if blogspot does private posts so you can always email me: brittney.arthairstudio@gmail.com. 

   Moving on- my sister calls me and says "I guess this looking cute everywhere you go thing does work ha!" (or something to that effect) Her story is as follows: (as closely to the truth as I remember...I remember the important parts anyway!)

   My sister, Claressa, was grocery shopping and standing by some bananas, inspecting which fruit to buy I should think, when a funny little man with an accent, standing next to her says something odd like, 
"Good day to buy bananas!" 
Claressa awkwardly agreed, "Uh...yeah."
   Continuing the conversation, the man shakes his head at the mushy, older bananas he was looking at and referred to them as "grandma bananas". 
   My sister kindly pointed to the other side of the stand and tells him, "There are better bananas over there." He thanked her and as he was moving to the better bananas he compliments her, 
   "You look cute.....like fresh banana!"

   A few things to point out here.

1. Claressa was grocery shopping. Why is this important? Because it is a minuscule and in my opinion, slightly boring chore that some people will do in their pajamas. Particularly at Walmart.

2. She was nice. Me? I would have automatically tried to skidaddle at the very first sentence. "Good day to buy bananas"? How is one day better than another to buy bananas?? ...but not Claressa. No sir-ee. She smiled and ushered him to the 'cuter' bananas that weren't so grandmotherly.

3. Compliments = Confidence and that's okay! Even if it was an unusual compliment, it made her laugh and feel good. Good enough to call specifically to laugh and tell me about it.

4. She took the time to get ready for errands. I guess this and point 1 go hand in hand. Errands. No one to impress. Husband at work. Don't have to be professional. Just running out and coming back. But still, she took a little extra time to do her hair and make up. Maybe she didn't have a wedding up-do done or stage make up, but a little combing, a little flat iron on the bangs, a little mascara and eyeliner goes a long way and I'm willing to bet, although I could be wrong, but I bet she felt better and more motivated to run her errands and quite possibly was treated better by those serving her. Definitely better than if she'd gone in there in pajamas!


Now, I have to admit, I was getting lazy on the looking nice thing then my sister told me that story and I knew I should get back to the grinding stone. Hope this has helped to encourage any readers, or at least make you chuckle a bit!

Yes, I found this picture on the internet. It's perfect!!