Not feeling it

At the start of 2010 I began to get into better shape thanks to the inspiration provided by the Green Hills Community Weight Loss Challenge. Over the past almost 3 months I have been working out and eating healthier. It has been a good lifestyle change for me and my family.

I try to get up most mornings and work out before I begin my work day. This morning I wasn't feeling it. I didn't want to get out of bed. I didn't want to get on the olyptical machine. I didn't want to run. I was not feeling like working out. But I did.

Feelings can lead us astray. Feelings can deceive us. Feelings can cause us to do things that we know we shouldn't do and not do things that we should. We can misread our feelings because feelings can be confusing.

I didn't feel like I wanted to work out. But, you know what? The work out got me going. The work out was what I needed. I need to be healthier to be used by God. I need to keep my body in shape and fit because it is a temple of God. But, this feeling talk is deeper than just whether we feel like working out or not. It is about making feelings be the determining factor in our lives and decision making. I learned from my work out this morning that my feelings shouldn't control me or determine rather I work out or not. In the same way, God's presence is not based on feelings. God is with us even when we don't feel Him. God doesn't stop loving us just because we don't feel like loving. The call that God has on our lives doesn't change because we are not feeling it today. We can't base our understanding and our response to God on feelings because feeling can mislead us.

Feelings are a part of who we are. We are feeling people. We laugh. We cry. We mourn. We dance. We feel. They are not a bad thing. Jesus laughed. Jesus cried. Jesus mourned. Jesus danced. Jesus felt. Yet feelings did not drive him. His love for the Father drove him. Feelings change. At times it seems we are on a feeling roller coaster. Don't let your feelings confuse you or deceive you of the basic truths of your life and who God is. Even in the moment that God feels most far off, he is right beside us. Even in the moments that we don't feel like God is doing something, God is working. Even in the moments that we feel most alone and hopeless, we are not alone and there is hope.

The lesson I learned from my workout this morning is that those moments that we don't feel it and we do it despite our feelings can be amazing moments of discovery. They can be moment that we grow. They can be the moments that God uses to teach us something about living in relationship with Him. Don't hear this as fake it. Don't here this as pretend to be something your not. Be honest about your feelings and chose to trust the truth that you know over your feelings in those moments that your feelings contradict the truth. How you and I feel does not change who God is, what he calls us to or who we are in him.

Love today.

In Christ's love and mine,

Doug