Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCLXVIII

I promise I don't have an obsession with mirrors, even though several times in the past few weeks I've mentioned them and the need for us to stand in front of one and take a good look at the image we see. Today I'm doing it again. Before we do that, however, let's take a trip back in our memory to about fifteen or twenty years ago, and let's try to recall the image of ourselves that we had pictured of the person that we would be today. Now let's go to the mirror and take a look. How does the person you see stack up with the person you had planned to be at this stage of life? I went through this process more than twelve years ago, and I didn't like what I saw. "Who are YOU? I don't know you." That was my first reaction as I stood there looking at the man staring back at me. The neat thing about looking into a mirror is if you take your time and really look, you can observe much more of the person looking back at you than you can of the typical man on the street. You can see inside him and read his thoughts. That's what I did that morning back in August, 2000. I didn't like the image I saw, the part that everyone else could see, but neither did I like the other part, the part that others could not see. The man I saw didn't even bear a slight resemblance to the man I had planned on being at that point in my life. What I was witnessing were the results of a decade of living a life without discipline. My physical appearance, my health, my finances, and my spiritual condition were all suffering from ten years of trying to live "the good life," but my idea of what"the good life" really means was all out of whack. You don't have the time to sit here and read all the details of just what type person I had become, so let me just tell you that I was disgusted with what I saw, both the visible and the invisible. Let me also tell you that I decided right there and then to do something about it. Those feelings of disgust are still fresh in my mind, even after more than a dozen years, and today, every day, I tell myself that I will never allow myself to become that person again. I am also a living testimony that a person can change if he makes up his mind to do so. I don't mean to imply that I had become a bad person...it's just that I had to learn from experience that going down Easy Street will bring me to a dead end. As painful as they were, those few minutes in front of that mirror turned out to be some of the best minutes of my life, because they got my attention and gave me the resolve to turn around. So where am I now? Well, since then, that big, disgusted guy in the mirror has run thirteen full marathons (26.2 miles), at least fifteen half marathons (13.1 miles), I have no debt other than my home and my car, and I feel closer to God than I ever have. Yes, I changed! And if I did it, anyone can. Preston

Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCLXVII

I think I've figured out a way around that one pesky little scripture that smacks every one one us right in the face, but there's a catch. We'll have to set a very lofty goal and live up to it completely if this is gonna work. The scripture I'm talking about is Matthew 7:1 that says, according to the Amplified Version, "Do not judge, criticize and condemn others or you will be judged, criticized and condemned yourselves."  Has anyone ever judged, criticized or condemned you?  Well, did you stop to consider that maybe you had it coming, and that verse was coming to fruition in your life?  Well, just follow my plan, and if it works, you won't have to endure those consequences any more. I realize the first impulse would be to say just don't judge and everything will be cool, but that's not what I'm talking about...well, not really. My method is merely making one simple goal, a goal that should already be the objective of every one of us. I've made it my goal, and chances are, you have too. Now all we have to do is achieve that goal, but that's where the catch comes in to play. Here it is:  All we have to do is live a 100% perfect, mistake-free life from this moment throughout the rest of eternity. It's an easy goal to make. As a matter of fact, I have no plans to make another mistake for the rest of my life. Now all I have to do is accomplish it.   What will it entail?  How many slip-ups am I allowed, let's say, in a day? None. Zip. Nada. Zero. " A perfect life" means a PERFECT life. Almost perfect is not perfect, and that won't do.  No bad attitudes, no temper tantrums, no gossip, or no little white lies will be allowed.  Basically, I have to live a life that gives no one else any legitimate reason to be critical of me whatsoever, and that's a pretty tall order. However, I think it will work if I will set that one little goal and follow it to the letter...forever. Oh, and that means I can never be judgmental. Preston Sent from my iPad=

Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCLXVI

Here's a test to see if smoking is bad for you. Stand in front of a mirror and take a good look at yourself, and then go smoke a cigarette. Wait thirty minutes and then go back and take another good look in the mirror. Do you see any difference?  More than likely you don't. So, does that mean smoking is not harmful?  If that test would work, nobody would smoke, because if one cigarette made a noticeable difference, by the time you smoked a pack, you would already be in trouble. What actually happens is the changes to our health are so gradual that we just continue to accept them until it's too late. As I was pondering this topic, I was reminded of some notes I had taken a few Sundays ago in church, so I went back and looked them up. I realize that my pastor was speaking about a different topic, but I believe the same principle still applies. He said, "We have a tendency to confuse delayed judgment with no judgment."  Just because I develop some bad habits today and I don't see any negative consequences doesn't mean that they aren't coming. What really happens is those consequences come on us so slowly that we don't even notice them at first. Consider this scenario:  On January 1, you weigh 150 pounds, and each month afterward you still weigh the same until the first of May, when you have added one pound. You're not alarmed because you don't feel or look any different, especially when you go another four months before you add another pound. The trend continues as you average gaining only one pound every four months, which comes out to a mere three pounds in one year. No big deal, right?  Any of us would be content to gain only three pounds a year.  Now let's fast-forward twelve years, when we look in the mirror and realize that we are thirty-six pounds heavier than when we started. How many of us are okay with the likelihood of being thirty-six pounds heavier twelve years from now?  Since we don't have the ability to see ourselves a dozen years down the road, we allow it to happen because the change comes on so slowly. If we were to change that much overnight, it would freak us out. I'm just using weight as an example, but the same principle holds true for practically every aspect of our lives, including our finances, our spiritual condition, our relationships, our marriage, etc. Human beings will accept almost anything as long as it's given to us in small doses. How many of us can be honest enough to admit that we now allow movies and television shows with immoral subject matter into our homes that we would not have accepted twelve years ago? Changes like that don't occur instantly, but they happen in tiny increments. Now, let's take a quick look at it from the opposite angle. How many of you would like to see yourself weighing thirty-six pounds less in twelve years?  It didn't come on you overnight and it won't come off overnight. Progress may seem slow, but progress is progress. Actually, we can fix things in a much shorter period of time than it took us to get there, but it will still require persistence and patience. It took me a year and a half to lose sixty-two pounds, which comes out to just under one pound per week. It seemed slow at the time, and at times I became impatient, but if I had given up, it never would have happened. This article is as much to me as it is anyone. Over the years since I made my big change, I've allowed some of that weight to gradually come back on, but it's now coming back off again, slowly but surely. I just have to remind myself that it takes time and determination. I've done it before, and I'm doing it again. Preston

Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCLXV

All your meals are free on a cruise. You can fill your plate as many times as you like and then eat five desserts if that's what you want to do....and it doesn't cost you one thin dime. Oh, and I also have some prime property for sale on Missouri's east coast, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, if you're interested. The TV evangelist says if you'll send him a small offering of $50 or more, he'll send you, absolutely free, an 8 X 10 autographed portrait of him and his wife standing in front of their new church building. All you have to do is enclose $7.50 in addition to your offering for shipping and handling, and the picture is yours for free. When I first started running, I tried to enter every 5K race that came to town, and every one of them gave me a free tee shirt after I paid my $20 registration fee. Then one day it dawned on me that I could not afford any more free tee shirts. I don't know how many rules of life there are, but rule number 1 is "Anything of value has a price tag," and it never ceases to amaze me just how many people are apparently unaware of that rule. If you see an ad that says, "Try our great new weight loss plan! There's no exercise involved and you can eat all you want," you should use that paper as a liner for the bottom of your bird cage. If it's worth something, someone has to pay for it. It may not cost you money, but it will cost you something. That handsome young hunk with the bulging biceps that you see every week didn't get that way by accident...he earned it. That beautiful, slim young lady with the gorgeous hair and firm body paid a steep price to look like that. Who would not want to be able to play golf like Tiger Woods, but who among us would be willing to pay the price that he has paid to get that good? I can testify to the fact that trying to live the easy, good life only produces undesirable results. I can also testify to the fact that living a life of discipline can prepare an individual to achieve goals he never thought he could reach. I love the way it's stated in Hebrews 12:11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Living a disciplined lifestyle is the price you pay for becoming the person you want to be, and you cannot become that person till you've paid that price. Living a disciplined life will require you to move out of your comfort zone...it means you have to go beyond what comes easy. Think about the person that you look up to as a role model. Whoever it is, I'll bet he's not a lazy slouch who never seems to be able to get it all together. Most likely, it's someone who was willing to pay the price to become the person he is. The good news is, you can be that person, too. But it's gonna cost you. Preston