Her name is Maria, and she is not my friend. I know this because she is not kind and seems to have little regard for my discomfort. Okay, so maybe I am taking it a bit too personally. After all, Maria is only a computer generated version of a professional personal trainer. Yep, most days I meet Maria in front of my TV.
It is kinda cool. X Box Kinect has a fitness program that actually scans you and inputs your info and then generates a program and a trainer for you, it even displays your body in a blue silhouette alongside the computerized instructor. As you engage in exercises you can see how you look and compare it to the trainer’s example….it will prompt you if you are not in the correct, safe, or effective position. Your image will glow orange to indicate the need to adjust your technique…this of course makes me look like an oompa loompa on the screen.
So far the only real perk for me is that I can do this in the relative anonymity of my home. I look pretty silly in action. I know the ultimate pay off will be when I get better at each exercise and gain strength and endurance, which Maria assures me will happen. After my often poor rendition of the exercise she has lead me in, she is quite fond of saying, “That’s okay, you’ll do better next time” or “I noticed you are having difficulty, do you need a break?”
A few days ago I was sopping the sweat off my head after a workout and fixing myself a cup of coffee. I sat down for my first “quiet time with God” in this New Year. (Disclaimer, okay it was the first “quiet time” I’d had since before the holidays even…). Anyways, as I settled into my spot on the couch, I pulled out my Bible and a devotional book a friend gave me a few months ago. Day one: Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”
After spending quality, sweat filled time with Maria and working hard to “renew my strength” and doing all I was asked to do so I will be able to “run and not grow weary”, these verses have new meaning to me.
Those who trust/wait/hope in Him will be renewed! I LOVE that it does not require me to achieve any great goal, perfect a skill, overcome my own weakness, or even SWEAT! This New Year as I strive to take better care of myself, when I am working to build muscle or run further, I will remember that real RENEWAL, my real STRENGTH and ability to ENDURE, will come from my amazing God of Whom I can say He is “…the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding the world cannot fathom.”!!!!!! Isaiah 40:28
Gotta admit, He is a much better personal trainer!
Tuesday With Teri 