It’s summer in Chicagoland and everything now green! Everything, that is, besides that one yellow, crumpled leaf that fell to the ground from the big, beautiful maple tree that has a canopy of green leaves that provide shade for our backyard deck. That crumpled yellow leaf got my attention. Funny how God knows exactly how to speak to me based on what I am experiencing and what I can best understand. Yes, that crumpled yellow leaf got my attention because it was such a contrast to the green all around me. After doing a little Google research, I learned that leaves turn yellow and fall to the ground during the summer due to lack of nutrition or water. Because of poor nourishment and hydration, that yellow leaf fell off the branch and could no longer serve its purpose of providing shade during the time of year when shade is most needed. That yellow leaf and I have a lot in common at the moment... Has Your Service to Others Left You Feeling Seared? Examine Your Beliefs Before You Burnout!5/19/2019
Whether you are a Christ-centered servant in ministry or in the marketplace, when it comes to the idea of managing stress and burnout, we often envision a cup in our mind. The balance between what flows into and out of the cup plays a part in determining our physical, mental and spiritual health and thus the effectiveness and enjoyment of the work that we do.
In the world of wellness, we focus a great deal of attention on encouraging people to fill the cup - to consistently make small daily investments in their health and wellbeing. As a wellness coach, I heartily endorse and encourage the filling of the cup! But I have also come to understand that managing the outpour from the cup is equally important. And in my personal experience and experience working with clients, I’ve found that managing that outpour is far more difficult. This is because it requires that we ask ourselves some tough questions about why we tend to resist making the difficult decisions needed to moderate the outpour to bring our lives back into a more reasonable balance. What are some of the hindrances that make it difficult for us to take the actions necessary to intentionally moderate what flows out of our cup? When it comes to our health-related efforts, we often put our focus on outcomes. What was the number on the scale today? What was your time on that 10K race last week? How many sizes did you go down on that diet you tried? And it is not surprising - that is how the world works. The world focuses on outcomes. In fact, achieving a specific outcome is the basis of almost every single health improvement program that is advertised in the media.
There is nothing wrong with desiring a specific outcome. Goal setting is a good thing. But when we forget that the outcome we seek is merely a result of our daily behavioral choices, we can run into problems. Becoming obsessed with an outcome can quickly cause us to lose perspective and head down some paths that will, ultimately, not get us to where we want to be. This is why, as a wellness coach, I encourage people to – Good Health for Good Works is travelling this week, but did not want to miss the opportunity to share a previous post containing a healthy Thanksgiving salad recipe! You may want to consider including this salad on your holiday menu for a healthier and more colorful Thanksgiving feast! Thanksgiving is almost here! Whether we are hosting the big dinner at home or going to dinner elsewhere, this is about the time that we are starting to think about the Thanksgiving dinner menu. While turkey generally takes center stage on the Thanksgiving table, for me, it is really all about the side dishes. That is where we can add some variety to the traditional Thanksgiving menu by including side dishes that are both creative and healthy.
The abundant and full life! It’s one of the best promises of God, especially in contrast to the works of the evil one that are designed to steal, kill and destroy. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 In the past month, I’ve learned something about what it means to be a full participant in the full life that Jesus provides, rather than a spectator. And my commitment to fitness was a big part of that!
In the month of October, I took the trip of a lifetime - a trip that I had prayed for many years ago. God answered my prayer and gave me the opportunity to go to Germany to visit family and then on to Italy to experience Venice, Florence and Rome! Even better was that I got to go with my daughter and my husband met up with us for the last part of the trip. Travelling with my daughter was both fun and challenging. That girl walked me into the ground and encouraged me to step outside of my safety and comfort zones! After a long day of walking in Florence, she informed me that we would be climbing 469 steep steps to the top of the Florence duomo to get a view of Florence at sunset! I honestly worried that I would not be able to do it and even thought about backing out. But I braved those steps and was able to make it to the top with much less difficulty that I had expected. The rewards of seeing the painting on the inside dome up close and the beautiful view of Florence from the top of the cathedral were well worth it! Good Health for Good Works is taking the month of October off to embark on an October Odyssey - a trek across the pond to visit distant relatives in a foreign land. Families are funny in that there is always that bond that transcends separations whether they are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I'm looking forward to spending time with my aunt, uncle and cousins and learning about who they are, what they have experienced and what our family history means to them. What about you? Have you ever taken a deep dive into your own family history? One of the greatest gifts we can give our descendants is information and context about our family health history. A great place to get started is with the Family Health History Initiative developed by the US Department of Health and Human Services. To make it more personal, why not write a letter to your future descendants about your family's health history, including strengths to imitate and weaknesses to avoid? For each descendant, give a short description of their health habits (smoking status, eating habits, activity levels, coping skills, hobbies and leisure time activities) as well as their accomplishments (physical endeavors, mental toughness, spiritual strength) and struggles (substance abuse, anxiety/depression, disabilities, chronic health conditions). Then end the letter by explaining what all this information means to you and what you hope it means for your future descendants. What kind of health legacy do you want to leave to your descendants? May the Lord say of us what He said of Abraham as we leave a legacy in the way we manage our health and every other area of life. I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just... (Genesis 18:19) See you in November! If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
When it comes to making improvements in our health, I find that most of us, including myself, want to “leap tall buildings in a single bound.” We have Superman-sized desires and want to see big results from a few action steps taken in the heat of great enthusiasm. Mahatma Gandhi once said that “It is health that is real wealth…” and I think most of would agree that our health is very valuable to us for a variety of reasons. Health, just like wealth, is one of our most valuable resources. Given the connection between health and wealth, let’s consider how the following proverb about attaining wealth might apply to attaining good health as well: Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 13:11 (NIV) Or as another Bible translation puts it - Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Proverbs 13:11 (ESV) Wealth that is gained hastily or through dishonesty is wealth that has not really been worked for. Those who take the shortcut to wealth do often get a good result, but it is only temporary, and the good result often dwindles or is reversed. Contrast this with the person who, by the consistent daily practice of hard work and wise money management accumulates wealth little by little and watches it increase and grow over time. Health can also be gained hastily by taking some shortcuts. Consider about every fad diet that you have ever heard of. The story is nearly always the same and it almost always involves either enthusiastically taking a drastic action (cutting food groups out of your life forever) or a desirable shortcut (lose weight by consuming chocolate flavored high protein shakes and energy bars). The result is a quick loss of many pounds and the result is most often temporary. Why? When something is accumulated little by little over time (knowledge, skills, money, good health habits), learning takes place. As we build or accumulate in the daily ups and downs of life, we learn many things. We learn:
Taking drastic actions and short cuts may get big, quick and dramatic results, but it bypasses the learning process. And because nothing has been learned, the result will not stick once a challenge is introduced. The difficulty of focusing on accumulating good health habits little by little is that is forces us to focus on the small, going against our desire for big, quick and dramatic results! It’s just not the American way! Here are a few examples of very small good health habits that I have learned and accumulated over the years:
All of these are small steps that have made a big impact on my health while being not particularly big, exciting or dramatic. In observing myself and working with others, I have learned that, rather than focusing on leaping “tall buildings in a single bound”, it is better to focus on small changes that can be learned and implemented slowly over time so that they will stick in the face of the challenge called stress. This goes against almost everything in our human nature and our culture. But, in my experience, it works! How about you? Are you willing to trade your Superman-sized desires for small steps? Are you willing to slow down and take the time to learn so that the good health habits you accumulate will stick when they come up against the stresses of life? What small step could you focus on today? Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin… Zechariah 4:10 If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here.
In the city where I live stands an amazing structure – a bell tower which houses a carillon which was built to commemorate the third millennium in the year 2000. It is an iconic landmark of our city and a great deal of fundraising and work went into building and dedicating the structure. The fundraising, building and dedicating of the tower was quite exciting. But dealing with the finishing touches, maintenance and repair of the structure has been a source of controversy. It turns out that:
The situation with the bell tower reminds me a lot of the situation we often experience when it comes to our health improvement projects and goals. This is what our experience often looks like: 1. We get excited about starting a health improvement plan or strategy. 2. We enthusiastically dive in and make sacrifices to invest time and resources to carry out the plan or strategy. 3. We are encouraged as we see ourselves making progress and we celebrate when we get to the completion of our endeavor whether that is achieving a fitness milestone, losing a specific number of pounds or stopping smoking. 4. We then discover that what we have achieved also has to be maintained and maintenance is not nearly as exciting. 5. We learn that maintaining consistent healthy lifestyle behaviors is a daily, long-term proposition and that the costs can be high. 6. When faced with the high costs, we must then decide whether to adjust our health improvement plans so that they can be sustained for the long-term or just demolish them all together. When it comes to building a bell tower or building our health, it really is all about how we define the endpoint or what we really desire to accomplish or attain. The goal of building the bell tower was not just to complete the building of the structure by the year 2000, but to build and maintain a structure that it could be enjoyed by the people of our city for years to come. The failure to adequately consider the cost of maintenance of this project threatened the achievement of the long-term goal. The goal of beginning a new health improvement strategy or plan is not to just complete a fitness event, attain a goal weight or break an addiction, but to achieve and maintain a level of health that will equip and enable us to have the energy and vitality to live an effective, engaging and enjoyable life for the rest of our days. The failure to adequately consider the cost of maintaining our health improvement plans or strategies threatens the achievement of the long-term goal. When we think about and pursue health improvement strategies and plans, it is important to count the cost before beginning and to realize that part of that cost almost always involves maintenance! What we attain must be maintained. This is because good health is not achieved by planning and executing a few healthy behaviors, but by planning and executing multiple healthy behaviors each day for the rest of our lives! Consider what Jesus said in Luke 14:25-35, as He spoke about the costs associated with every commitment, including the commitment to become His disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.” Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. The achievement of any goal involves counting the cost. The achievement of a health goal involves counting the cost knowing that maintenance is a very large part of that cost given that healthy decisions must be carried out on a daily basis in order to produce the desired long-term result.
What does this look like from a practical standpoint? It comes down to a few very simple questions. Before getting excited about and embarking on a health improvement plan or strategy, it is wise to ask these questions:
If after doing our homework, praying for wisdom and honestly examining ourselves, we can confidently answer “yes” to these questions, we mostly likely have a health improvement plan or strategy that will lead us to our desired endpoint or goal. What about you? Are your health improvement plans and strategies crafted with maintenance in mind? Are they wise and sustainable for the long-term? Will you be able to maintain what you have attained using your health improvement plan or strategy? If not, will you demolish them or make the necessary adjustments that will lead you to your long-term goal? If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here. Everywhere I look, I see that we are all settling into the traditions and expressions of the fall season. I see this, and I understand: We all want to enjoy the colors and symbols of the beautiful fall season! I see this, and I don’t understand: Why would anyone want to buy Halloween candy when Halloween is well over a month away? Yes, I know we Christians can have differing views on the acknowledgement and celebration of Halloween. Some choose to ignore it to avoid evil influence. Some choose to participate to leverage it to make a positive impact. And some of us find benefit in buying that Halloween candy well before the date when the selection is wide and varied. Those snack size treats can be stored away and used as a great portion control strategy for enjoying some treats in moderation throughout the year. But whatever we personally choose, it doesn’t change this fact: We will face a large and prominent Halloween candy display every time we go to the grocery store, drug store or discount store between now and October 31st. For those of us who face the temptation to overindulge, it may be a set up to stumble! For those of us who tend toward overindulgence of sweets at this time of year, the more Halloween candy we see, the more we are likely to buy. The longer we have Halloween candy in our house, the more likely we are to eat it and then buy more. In Matthew 5, Jesus has something to say about stumbling. When speaking of the sin of adultery and the lust that accompanies it, He said: If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30 Regarding the application of this passage, a few very important points need to be made:
It is also important to remember that gluttony, like every other sin, cannot be detected by just looking at someone on the outside. As Jesus clarified earlier in Matthew 5, just because we don’t see a man commit adultery (vs. 28) or murder (vs.22) doesn’t mean these sins are not hiding in the heart or lurking behind closed doors. Likewise, just because someone is not obese does not mean that this person is free from the sin of overindulgence and gluttony. I can personally attest to this! When it comes to the sin of overindulgence and gluttony, there are many ways that we can be set up to stumble. But we can overcome that trap by taking to heart the principles outlined in this passage of scripture.
When it comes to the temptation to overindulge in Halloween candy this time of year, here are a few adjustments that I plan to make in my life to avoid stumbling:
What about you? How will you deal with the temptation of Halloween candy that will be with us for the next month and a half? What will you do to keep yourself from stumbling beyond moderation and into overindulgence? If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here. “Health is the real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Most of us are very familiar with this quote spoken by Mahatma Gandhi. And for most of us, it rings true. Because we know that good health is valuable, most of us pay attention to the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly health decisions that we make to attain and preserve good health for as long as we can. Making good health decisions requires wisdom. To what sources of wisdom do you go to when you need to make a health-related decision? Almost any good Christian would say that the first place they go with any health concerns is directly to God. After all, we all have heard that part of Psalm 139 that describes how we are “woven” and “knit” together by a God whose works are “wonderful.” For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139: 13-16 This passage of scripture highlights several important truths that, if accepted and applied, would have a great impact on why and how we make our health decisions. Truth #1: God created you. You were His idea from the very beginning. Truth #2: God created you and put your together. Your body was woven and knit together by God. Truth #3: God created you and put you together in a purposeful way. He created and put you together with the full knowledge of the days that were before you. He knew every detail of the potential of who you might be and what you might do. Truth #4: God created you and put your together in a purposeful way with unimaginable creativity and skill. His works are wonderful, and you are fearfully (awesomely) and wonderfully made! Compare these truths with what the world tells us about how we should make our health-related decisions: Deception #1: Your worth is based on the attainment of the current standard of health and fitness. “My New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, so I can fit into those size 2 skinny jeans that I saw in that magazine.” Deception #2: Your evaluation of your health and fitness begins by comparing yourself to the current standard or to others. “I’m going to start that new intense exercise program because, when I look in the mirror, I want to see thin hips. I want to look like Lisa. She looks so cute in her skinny jeans." Deception #3: Your progress in your health and fitness is dependent upon looking outside yourself to find the next new plan, strategy, product. “My last diet plan didn’t work, but I’m confident in Dr. X’s plan to drink two shakes and four dietary supplements each day, eliminate two food groups from my diet and eat two specific super foods each and every day without fail.” Deception #4: Your ultimate goal in the pursuit of health and fitness is your own satisfaction and sense of fulfillment. “If I run in that marathon, I will feel like a winner!” According to Romans 12:1-2, we will be able to make and carry out God-centered decisions when we fully offer ourselves to God and align our thinking with the truths of His word. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2) Just as in every other area of the Christian life, our health decisions should be made according to the wisdom of the Weaver (the One who has woven and knit us together) rather than according to the ways of the world (its pattern of thinking and behaving). If we really want to live out the beautiful truths of Psalm 139:13-16, then our health decisions will be rooted in:
Gratitude – we will acknowledge and seek God as a master craftsman whose works are wonderful! Our health decisions will come out of a place of gratitude rather than dissatisfaction. Respect – we will acknowledge and seek God as our Creator, Maker and Subject-Matter expert when it comes to our bodies. When making health decisions, we will first seek God’s wisdom and engage the mind He gave us before we run to the internet to find the next new promise or product. Submission – we will acknowledge and seek God as the One who does His work with a purpose in mind. Our health decisions will be primarily aligned with fulfilling God’s purpose for our life rather than fulfilling our own personal desires. How about you? Where do you find the wisdom that you need to make good health decisions? Are you making your health decisions according to the ways of the Weaver or according to the ways of the world? If you have a question or comment about this blog post or any other information on this website, please click here. |
About the AuthorHello! My name is Ginger Hill and I am a Christ follower and a n employee wellness professional. I am passionate about helping myself and others to live a healthy lifestyle and I believe that good health is essential in helping us to do the good works that God has called us to do. Because I am a work in progress, I write these blog posts to encourage myself and I share them with others in the hope that they may be encouraged as well.
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"But the godly will flourish...Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green."
Psalm 92:12,14 (NLT)
All Contents Copyrighted © Ginger Hill and Good Health for Good Works 2017-2022. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted,
unless otherwise indicated. You may share this website by any of the following means:
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Psalm 92:12,14 (NLT)
All Contents Copyrighted © Ginger Hill and Good Health for Good Works 2017-2022. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted,
unless otherwise indicated. You may share this website by any of the following means:
1. Provide a back-link or the URL of the content you wish to disseminate.
2. Quote extracts (with context) from the website with attribution to www.goodhealthforgoodworks.org