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February 3, 2006 There’s a new digital scale at my house. I purchased one with clear numbers and accuracy. Accuracy is the main thing. The old one we had would give readings that fluctuated up to 4 pounds – just by getting off the scale and stepping back on again. It has worked great except that on Monday I noticed a 4 pound fluctuation. Where did they come from? I’m sure the the total weight of those extra crepes on Sunday was not even 1 pound. I’ve tried to say I’m not bothered, but that really isn’t the truth. In 2 months I will return for my 30th High School Reunion. Ever since I graduated I’ve told myself, “I will not return bald and bulging.” I remember what the ‘old’ alumni looked like when I was a attending school. I may be middle aged, but I look more and more like the stereotyped middle-aged American male. As I’ve become more aware of my obsession with image, I’ve also been aware that my wife is more concerned that she live with me a long time than that she life with a hunk. Her focus is my health and well-being, not my rugged good looks. And truth be told, when I show up on campus in two months, I want to feel great. If I look great, but feel like a hollow shell, what has that accomplished? If I suck in the 4 inches I want off my waste, will that remove the cardio risk Kelly worries about? It really doesn’t matter how many pounds that scale says I’ve lost, if those pounds don’t reflect better health and nutrition. So while I still step on the scale each morning, I’m choosing to be concerned with my overall health. I want what people see to actually reflect my status rather than a carefully managed image. The same can happen with my spiritual health. We can work on what people will see so that they will think we’re OK, rather than working on what will really make us OK. Humans can be such silly people. Let’s not be silly. Let us be real. And may what is real take us to the good life God has designed for us. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” Romans 12:1-2
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