To be or not to be?

I have a confession or two (or five) to make...

The people who live with me already know that I haven't kept up with the Couch-to-5 K running plan.
I reached Week 3, but then lost my momentum.
I've stayed seated on the couch more than I've ran over the past two months.
I make excuses---my head hurts...I'm too tired...I just showered...I have too much school work...I just ate a whole cake Katherine, so give me a break---even though some are completely legitimate reasons not to run (in my mind at least).
Needless to say, my hot pink sneakers haven't lost as much tread as I thought they would've by now.

Once I fell behind, I just gave up. I had a rough couple of weeks health wise by the time I reached week 3 of the program and lost my wind. Instead of giving myself some grace, moving back to a slower pace in order to regain my strength, increase my endurance, and eventually make strides toward my goal, I decided to go sit back on the couch. It's not where I wanted to end up, nor is it where I felt like I should stay, but at least I knew I'd be comfortable there for the time being.

This kind of attitude tends to bench a lot of us. If we make one mistake, we think it's all downhill from there. We give up before we even get going. I think most people also think of their spiritual lives in the same way. We read in the Bible (2 Corinthians 5:17) about how God says that we are a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come, right? But sometimes we still feel old, act old, and look old. What then? Do we just go sit back on the couch and tell ourselves, "Oh, tomorrow I'll be a new creation" ? Sometimes, yes, that is exactly what we do.

When we do that though, when we revert back to the comfortable, old way of life, we put ourselves through an identity crisis, whether we know it or not. As believers in Christ, we are redeemed children of God, without stain or blemish in the eyes of the Almighty. We have been saved from a dark, torturous eternity separated from our Maker, and saved into a new life, full of God's goodness, mercy, and love. Our identity becomes Christ's, for that's how the Father sees us. He knows we're not perfect, but he's making us new. It may not always feel like the most comfortable choice, but we can have confidence that God will finish the work he began in each of his children, for Christ said so himself: "It is finished."

Until then, we can live each day with the hope that one day we will experience the completeness of our redemption through Jesus Christ. Even on the days we feel old, like there's nothing new about us, we can walk on with the strength we receive from God's Word, which says:

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." (1 John 3:1-3)

52 Week Project 2012 ~ Week 29
#tobeornottobe

To be or not to be? That is the question.

Redeemed.

That is our answer.

This week I stopped listening to the voice in my head that told me I'd never be able to actually run a 5 K. I woke up early one day, made my way down to the treadmill in our basement, and walked a mile. It wasn't a lot, but it's something. At least I'm off the couch again. 

At the very end of that one mile walk, the song "Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave came on my Pandora Radio. It perfectly summed up my reason for walking, for moving forward, for trying again. Not just in exercising, but in life. No matter the pain I feel, I always have a reason to get up in the morning. 

I am redeemed.