Heard a song in church today that deeply hit me at a gut level. The minute the song was over the only word that came to me was “REAL”.... It really got me to thinking about a lot, asking myself some serious and REAL questions. Is this what I do? Do I live in a population of ONE? Am I in my own little world? Is spreading the word of health & fitness a part of a bigger purpose? Is it enough? Could I be doing more? 

I used to listen to the news. I used to read the paper. I used to get so caught up in the wrongs & pains & sorrows that occurred in our world, but then I stopped. I found it made me so sad all the time, and I let it all go. I turned off the TV, turned off the radio, and stopped reading the paper. 

I shifted my focus. I took something that I knew I was good at and passionate about, and started spreading that word, started reaching out to people in my local world that I could ‘touch’ or impact. I told myself that this was enough - that it was good - that it was ok. I rationalized my actions with the idea that we are responsible to create our own reality, and that is simply what I was doing. 

I pray to God daily and ask him for guidance to direct me into the right course of action. I pray and ask if health, fitness & nutrition is the outlet I am meant to serve in, and if it’s supposed to be bigger then this to please help guide me there. 

This song gave me realization. EVEN IF, spreading the word of health & fitness is my calling, and even if it is in line with my purpose, I know it isn’t enough. I know there is always more I can do! Why not make extra effort to ‘touch’ everyone crosses my path? Everyone I am gifted the opportunity to reach out to? I am passionate about health & fitness, and I so strongly desire to reach as many people as possible in this aspect, to help them facilitate positive changes in their lives, but I want to do more then that! I never want to lose sight of the opportunities I am presented with daily to impact people, if even on, what appears to me, a small scale. It is the small acts of kindness that add up over time. 

This song is absolutely beautiful. The minute I heard it I knew it was worth sharing! I hope someone else can get as much out of it as I did - enjoy :) 

No matter how many times I walk into a church service and hear exactly what I need to hear in that moment, it never seizes to amaze me. I spent the better part of last week, after having a discussion with a close friend, praying that God would be with me, and help me to be more compassionate even to those people that rub me the wrong way, the few people I like less, or the people that just seemingly irritate me. 

My friend and I were talking about how sometimes there are just certain people that rub us the wrong way. I admitted that I have a few of those people in my life, without even understanding why. I expressed that while I don’t choose those feelings, I am not ok with them. That isn’t the kind of person I want to be remembered as, or known as for that matter, not even by myself. I want to be able to look at everyone through a lens of love. I want to see the beauty in everyone, even the most difficult of people. I want to give everyone a fair chance. So after this conversation, as I mentioned, I prayed. I asked God to be with me, to walk with me, to guide me, to consume me with his Godly love, so that I could live my life through loving thoughts and actions. 

After three days of long prayers, I walked into a new church as a guest. The service topic: Love Yourself & Love Others. How fitting. The hour was spent talking about how grand God’s love is. That God loved us so much he gave his only son. What does it mean to love that much? What if we all loved even a fraction of that depth of love? 

The quote that stood out to me the most that day was “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:12. All I know, is that this is the kind of life I want to live...Where I radiate love.  I know I am not there yet, and I am a work in progress, but I also know at least what I aspire to work toward each and every day. The pastor mentioned how when we love that deeply that God is seen in us and through us. This is the love I want to experience. This is the love I want to live through, I want to give, even to and more importantly to those that are harder to love. We talked a lot about how it is easy to love those that are easy to love, but the importance of also loving the more difficult people.  The next day I read a chapter in A Purpose Driven Life, and it described these people as “EGR” people (Extra Grace Required). I know my daily commitment is continuing each and every day to ask God to be with me so that I can strive to live my life through a love as deep as his, so I can serve people out of love, so I can develop compassion for every individual, especially the EGRs, and most importantly so I can let go of negative feelings toward other people so I can be the best I can be and live a life of true purpose. 

 
Daily Prayer...

God, 

Consume me with your love. Your deep, compassionate, forgiving, all loving, nonjudgemental, and lasting love. Allow me to be open so that your love can flow through me and out of me into this world. Allow me to be a vessel for you to work through to reach your children on Earth. Help me to love every person the way I also love you, so that you can be seen. Use me to accomplish the purposes you have designed for me. I come to you, because I know I am helpless with out you and can not do it on my own.

Thank you, Amen.