Don't Regret the Sweat!

To piggyback on yesterday's post about walking, I just wanted to say a couple more things. Every time I come back from a long walk, I am sopping wet. My hair is wet, there’s sweat running into my eyes, and everything down to my skivvies is drenched. If you didn’t know better you’d think I’d been swimming, not walking! Even though it’s kind of wimpy compared to other ways of exercising, walking for me is hard work. Skinny people don’t understand this because they aren’t carrying around a 10 pound sack of potatoes on their butt or a five pound bag of flour on their gut...and that only accounts for 15 pounds of extra weight. I'm lugging around 50+ pounds of snacks and groceries. I’m not trying to whine about it. I’m fully aware that it’s my fault. I’m just saying that for me, sweating is common. The good thing is, sweating means that my body is doing its job correctly and working hard to burn off all the flab I don’t need. Sweating is good for the body and helps release toxins as well as serves as a cooling system for when I get too hot. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I didn’t sweat while exercising? I’d probably get so hot I’d spontaneously combust! Part of it’s inconvenient and embarrassing, but part of it feels really good! I know I’m getting somewhere.

After the fall of Adam and Eve, God told Adam “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground; since from it you were taken~for dust you are and to dust you will return. Genesis 3:17-19

God, I’m sure, was pretty unhappy that Adam and Eve chose to ignore His best for them by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil and for breaking their perfect relationship with Him, but if you notice He didn’t curse them. He cursed the ground and gave Adam the opportunity to work hard and sweat in order to achieve a way of providing food for his family. God told Adam ahead of time that there would be thorns and thistles. It wouldn’t be easy like the Garden of Eden. Life would be hard! Sometimes we say that we achieve a goal or a difficult objective by “blood, sweat, and tears” and truthfully, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. It means that the prize or outcome is so valuable to us that we are willing to pay a price that is beyond monetary value. We pay physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually because it's worth it to us. It reminds me of what Jesus did on the cross through His “blood, sweat, and tears” to redeemed us from eternal separation from God and restored us to a right relationship with Him. It wasn’t an easy fix. It was costly. It cost Him everything, but He thought we were worth it. That’s a pretty amazing concept to try and wrap my brain around.

If the Creator of the Universe thinks I’m worth His ‘blood sweat and tears” to redeem and use for His glory while I am still on this earth, then the least I can do is sweat a little to get and keep myself in the kind of condition that allows me to be of optimal service to Him. So as hard as it seems at times, I don’t regret the sweat. I just have to keep thinking of it as part of walking worthy of the calling which I have received...and keep on walkin'.