If your focus is on looking good — sorry, but you are bound to be disappointed.<\/p>\n
There will always be someone more attractive than you are.\u00a0 You may feel great next to your overweight friends, but suddenly feel like a blimp when you are surrounded by skinny young things.<\/p>\n
I had that experience when I spent a few weeks in Thailand.\u00a0 I had been feeling pretty good about losing that ten pounds. \u00a0 Compared to the people my age in my exercise class, I looked fairly svelte.\u00a0 The majority of people in Thailand, though, are small-boned and petite.\u00a0 I suddenly felt tall for the first time in my life — but I also felt gargantuan.\u00a0 Sales people would call out, \u201cWe have big size, Lady. Big size for you!\u201d\u00a0 Even worse was the woman who held up a skirt and pulled on the elastic to show how far it could stretch.\u00a0 \u201cBig, big,\u201d she cried. \u201cIt will fit you!\u201d<\/p>\n
The point is that if you are trying to look better than other people, you are doomed to fail.\u00a0 Perception changes depending on the people you are around.\u00a0 You will only be truly motivated to change if your goal is to be strong and healthy.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but I want to live until I die.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be stuck in a sort of half-life where I can\u2019t do much because my aches and pains are holding me hostage.\u00a0 I want to live a useful, purposeful life for God\u2019s glory until my life comes to an end.<\/p>\n
Like my friend, Ruby.\u00a0 She was nearly blind and in an independent living center when she was in her late nineties.\u00a0 She led an exercise class there and had a ministry to the less able people who were her neighbors.\u00a0 I offered to pick her up for church one time, but she graciously declined.\u00a0 \u201cThey need me in the service we have here,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cThey count on me to be a greeter and to make people feel welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruby was always dressed up, complete with coordinated shoes and manicured nails.\u00a0 \u201cYou never know when something interesting might happen,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be ready to go if something comes up.\u201d<\/p>\n
She died at 98 — but she lived until she died.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I want — and it\u2019s a much more sure motivation than looking better than the other folks.<\/p>\n
How about you?\u00a0 Why do you want to lose weight?\u00a0 Living — really living — is a goal worth reaching.<\/p>\n
Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n
Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n
If your focus is on looking good — sorry, but you are bound to be disappointed. There will always be someone more attractive than you are.\u00a0 You may feel great next to your overweight friends, but suddenly feel like a blimp when you are surrounded by skinny young things. I had that experience when I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[513,515,514],"class_list":["post-1718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-comparisons","tag-ruby","tag-thailand"],"yoast_head":"\n