Marriage from A to Z

“Common Cares after Christmas”

Christmas of 2016 is now behind us. Many of us have celebrated by spending time with family and friends, traveling, exchanging gifts, going to church and eating various meals with desserts.  For the month of December I have written about common cares that people have in preparation for Christmas.  The cares consisted of:  1)Family 2)Frustrations that we must turn into Faith and 3) Finances.  Can you guess what this weeks care will be?  While celebrating Christmas and preparing for the new year, many are surrounded by lots of good food and sweets.  Often times its very hard to resist so therefore we indulge.   So the 4th and last common care for the month is a focus on our Flesh and Fitness.

Our flesh simply refers to our body.  What is your body saying today? Would it say that it is feeling great?  Have you been taking good care of your body or abusing it?  Are you in good health?  3 John 1:2 says “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”  Health refers to the condition of the body or the mind.  It is defined as,  “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” If we are not in good health, we will be limited on what we can accomplish.  Check yourself and determine what you need to do to have better health or to maintain good health.  We often hear about the basic things that we can do to improve our health such as; watching what we eat, portion control, drink plenty of water, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and lastly exercise.  But the question is are we putting any of these things into practice?  You only get one body and God is holding you responsible for taking care of it.

The second part of this week’s care is fitness, which simply means to be fit.  It has also been defined as, “The body’s ability to complete activities for every day life effectively and efficiently.” Being fit deals with you physically, physiologically and emotionally.  The following is a check list for fitness.

1. Having enough strength and energy to make it through a whole day
2.  Proper Nutrition, eating healthy meals
3. Maintaining  a healthy weight
4. Mentally and emotionally stable (stress management)
5. Being Pain free
6. Physical activity and independence
7. Adequate rest

As we prepare to go into 2017 let’s evaluate ourselves and do something about our flesh and maintaining fitness.  Try something different, aim to move your body more and eat healthy, get an accountability partner who will work with you. Don’t be complacent with where you are, keep striving to do better.   I pray that you will prosper and be in good health!

Until next week . . .

Carolyn