Day: December 22, 2023

Well, I just finished up my sixth year of showing up consistently at my gym. Six years. 72 months. 313 weeks.

There were hard days. Very hard days. There are still hard days, if I’m honest. But I can’t fully express how deeply grateful I am for my health. The past six years have been filled with a lot of ups and downs and so many challenges in my personal life, in family life, in raising three teenagers, in sending kids off to college, and more. I won’t even mention perimenopause and the rollercoaster it has been.

Here’s the thing though—all the challenges would still have been present. The six years, the 72 months, the 313 weeks all would have passed whether I was working out or not. So I’m extremely happy that I made the hard decision to keep showing up. It’s actually not hard to show up anymore. It might even be the easiest part of my week. Showing up is, by far, what has kept me going. I have a time and place and plan when I get there. Tim has been so helpful in challenging me at appropriate levels that kept me going and didn’t let me settle.

But I think the biggest mental shift and help has been coming to grasps with the fact that there is no finish line. Too often we think “when I lose 20 pounds, then I can be happy.” Or maybe we think once we get strong then we can just coast. But that’s not helpful—because moving my body doesn’t have a finish a line. Benefiting from strength will last my whole life!

So here’s to six years and many, many more—Lord-willing!!

Josh and I have the privilege to lead a small group at our church. There are about fifteen or so young married couples, many of which have kids or one on the way. In the group text among the ladies of our group, we were exchanging some photos from the holiday season—photos with Santa among them. I couldn’t help but share a couple of my favorites from years gone by. I’m thankful they let me indulge in this way and add, “I miss these days! Enjoy the craziness!!”

I share that comment at risk of sounding like the older ladies who would tell me how quickly time passes as they watched me wrangle my three. For quite a while this sentiment bothered me. Here I was trying my best to be their mom, be present and care for their every need. I didn’t find their melancholy words—“don’t blink” —very comforting.

But now as a 46 year old mom of three, ages 19, 18, and 16, I understand their hearts. They meant only well. They meant to relay to me how very precious these little faces I was wiping actually were. They didn’t want me to miss a single minute of it because they would give anything for a single minute to hold their newborn baby again or kiss their toddler’s chubby cheeks or hear their tiny voices. I share this photo because it takes me back to this fun day in 2008 at the Christmas Tree Farm. A forever memory etched on my heart. We were present with one another. I’m sure someone cried. I’m sure they fought at some point. But what a sweet day I treasure fifteen years later. In the moment I didn’t know how special this outing was. But now I know.

And my message to my young mom friends is not so much to not blink. Not even to remind you how fast they grow up. But instead what I’m saying is BE PRESENT. Ask the Lord to help you soak in the faces of those you love. Ask the Lord to slow your racing mind of to-do lists and put your phone down and live hands free this Christmas season. It’s impossible to not blink. It’s impossible to freeze time. But we can all be present. It will be the greatest gift we give and receive. Merry Christmas!