Time for a Reality Check?

  

How many laps around the pond???

    During a recent meeting at our church, I happened to notice that the woman sitting next to me was wearing a purple band around her wrist.

   “Is that a pedometer?” I asked.

   “Yes,” she replied, “it’s fun.” 

   A group of her colleagues had decided to set a goal of walking ten thousand steps every day. Everyone in the group wore the wrist bands, checking in with each other often for encouragement and accountability.   

   “Maybe we’re talking about that when we should be doing other things!” she added, laughing.

   As a matter of fact, I had given Al a pedometer for Christmas after being inspired by a young member of our Great Britain tour group named Jessica who also had as her goal 10,000 steps. Jessica was usually the first one off the bus, always on the move! I also bought one for me, curious about how far I walked each day.

    Al’s pedometer was cracked unfortunately, something which wasn’t obvious until the package was opened. He decided to return it and to try out mine, an even cheaper version, for awhile. First we measured the length of his stride or “step” which was about two feet. Then, in order to get an accurate count of his steps, he attached it to the waistband of his pants.

   Somehow, while walking around the yard blowing away leaves and clearing the drainage ditch from mud, the pedometer fell off. He felt bad and even went out in the dark with a flashlight looking for the little gadget. No success. It was probably buried in the mud somewhere or covered up by leaves. 

    Just to make sure though, the next morning, he went out and searched again. This time, as Al was walking down the path, he happened to notice something lying on the ground. With a big smile, he walked back into the house and handed me the pedometer. Amazing!

    He decided to give it back to me for fear of losing it again; so I attached it to the waistband of my pants and wore it for several days in a row. The pedometer was an eye-opener, giving a more accurate idea of the distance I covered around the yard and while inside, doing housework.

    The fancy purple one my friend had on her wrist reminded me that it had been awhile since I had worn mine. And she mentioned the magic number of 10,000 steps as her goal each day too.  With a little calculating, I made the discovery that in order to reach ten thousand steps on the pedometer, it would take walking around the pond in our front yard almost one hundred times! That was a reality check! On the average, the dogs and I walked ten times around the pond and yard; housework really didn’t add on a great deal more to the total daily distance.

    I decided to begin setting some higher goals in daily exercise. The pedometer also inspired me to think about my spiritual journey in a more realistic light, evaluating myself on how much time I spend each day in prayer, Bible reading and worship and on my overall relationship with God. Am I living in a manner pleasing to Him? Where I would like to be spiritually a year from now and what changes would have to take place in my life to get there?

   A periodic self-evaluation is important in keeping us honest and in motivating us to grow in our relationship with Him. May we be constantly moving on in our walk with the Lord, faithful to Him till the end.

 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way…” Colossians 1:9-10a NIV