Today at the gym, I had absolutely no time to waste. I had to move straight from one set to the next and then from one exercise to the next without pausing. While my workouts typically take me two hours to complete, today's workout only took me a little over one hour. I was able to do as much as I wanted and needed to do because I just didn't waste time. I had time for everything I wanted to have time for. I even had a few minutes to talk to some friends of mine at the gym today.
I didn't have time to just waste, but I did have time for everything I wanted to have time for. The lesson I was reminded of today is just that: You (and I) have time for everything we want to have time for.
So many times we make excuses about why we don't do the things to fuel our spiritual lives. The biggest excuse I hear is "I just don't have time". When you ask anyone why they don't read their Bible or pray or go to church or any of the "spiritual disciplines", the vast majority of them will answer "I just don't have time" or something similar in different words. I can promise you this though...the time is there, it's just being used on things you (or I) would rather do.
We just have to decide what we want more. Do we want to grow closer to God through loving relationships, or would we rather sleep in on a Sunday? Do we need that TV show or would we rather spend thirty minutes growing closer to God? Is that text message more important than talking to God? What is it for you? It's amazing how we always have time to hang out with the people we want to hang out with, or the business appointments we "need" to have, or the movie we want to go see, or the restaurant we want to eat at, but when it comes to God, we just don't have the time. It's not that the time isn't there, it's just that we've decided there are things more important in life than drawing closer to Him.
What I can tell you for sure is there is absolutely nothing more important. I lived a lot of my life pretending to be close to God and it hasn't been until the past two years where I really started to work on my daily relationship with Him. My life has never been the same or better than these past two years have been. No, it hasn't always been easy, but even in the tough times, I can see He's there. That to me is the most important thing.
Last week I made a new rule in my life. I'm not allowed to do my physical workout until I had taken care of my "spiritual workout" (my quiet time). I'd encourage you to do the same thing. Maybe not with your workout, but with whatever it is you enjoy doing that you're maybe putting before God nowadays. Take care of your spiritual well-being before you take care of anything physical. After all, one will last forever and the other is fading away more and more every moment.
"Come close to God, and God will come close to you." (James 4:8a NLT)
"And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." (1 John 2:17 NLT)
Workout:
Today's workout was the same as Monday's workout. However, I reduced the weight by 10% under the guidance of Derek (my medical expert). He explained it to me like this: When you remodel a house, rarely do you tear down the entire house and start over. You just knock down the pieces you need to remodel. Reducing the weight by 10% allows you to not completely tear down all the muscle that has been created, but does still create tears in the fibers and rebuilds the pieces that weren't torn earlier in the week. So that's what I did. I listened to the advice of the people I trust and I went for it. However, this time instead of moving up in weight, I lifted the maximum weight for all three sets of lifting except for on the bench press and the plate chest press. On those two exercises, I did move up in weight throughout the three sets.
Squats 3x8 - 275 pounds
Split squats 3x8 - 55 pound dumbbells
Barbell shoulder press 3x8 - 90 pounds
Bench press 3x8 - 175 pounds
DB lateral raises 3x8 - 25 pound dumbbells
Plate chest press 3x15 - On the third set: 115pounds x12 reps then finished the set with 3 reps of 90 pounds
Front raise 3x8 - 20 pound dumbbells
Crunches 3x30
Best Songs of the Workout:
1. Love the Way You Lie Part 2 by Rihanna
2. Let's Go by Cartel
3. Believe by Justin Bieber
Till next time people,
Peace and much love
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