Natural Man vs. Childlike

 I've become kind of obsessed with battling the natural man.

Unfortunately, it has turned most things into a battle and, honestly, I get tired of fighting.

As I hit 250 lbs with this last pregnancy it scared me.  True, I lost the token 13-ish when the babe was delivered and went down a bit after discovering my all time not-so-great record.  However, I have a vision of being able to keep up with my kids--let alone my grandkids--and being heavy and out-of-shape is not part of that vision.  

So when I hit that mark, my thoughts turned towards creating a plan.  I am good at plans.   God tells me something is good. I plan.  Now, the hard part has been sticking to plans. 

Enter, natural man.

THE INSPIRATION

I pondered and pondered and my ideas kept coming back to the idea of training for a marathon over the course of a year.  Being completely transparent, I really have no desire to run a marathon.  Ever. Or even run those 20 mile prep routes leading up to it.  However, I do know that any plan that outlines how to get ready for a marathon a year in advance has got to have a slow enough curve of plans that it would even embrace my body and mentality.  

I knew that this "year" plan was inspiration because my usual brain would not accept so tame a route.  However, my usual brain was transformed a bit by my son Drew's observation that it is more effective to aim to create habits than it is to set goals.  When you are developing a habit, if you miss a day, you just try the next day...not so big a deal.  If you set a goal, there is a specific end in sight and you "fail" if you don't hit it...and feel like a failure if you don't stick to it.

So combine this morphed brain with an idea that kept floating back to my mind when I kept kicking it out.  Must be inspiration!  (God knows that He has to give me time to accept ideas.  Very rarely do I get "Mount Sinai" experiences with revelation.)  I knew my natural man. I would be excited, plan, get discouraged/distracted and not progress...except around the waistline, in the wrong direction.

THE PLAN

The year plan breaks up the training into trimesters.  The first three months, you get out 3-4 times a week and walk or jog for 30 minutes.  That's it. No further clarification or specification.  So you get out there and move in a forward motion and you are succeeding.  The person who developed this plan must have talked to Drew.  It is completely about forming habits!  I could do this and fail and fail and I wasn't really failing.

THE REALITY

The first week, I went out once.

The second, not at all.

Maybe two times the third week...you get the picture.

By the end of one month, there was one week that I went out three times.

But when I did go out, I wasn't stressed about pushing myself to accomplish some kind of speed or endurance. It was just about getting out.  I realized after about the fifth time that I could just stop "jogging" whenever I wanted to...and my body would actually want me to start jogging on its own from time to time.  And the week that I went out three time, I noticed that the jogging time turned into a longer and longer stretch!  It wasn't a push, a battle of mental energy like exercising normally is for me. I just did what my body wanted to do...and it wanted to do more each time I went out! On it's own!

Now I like to go out. I know it is not going to be a battle but a time for my body to explore where it is at. I allow myself to walk or jog or stop and ponder depending upon what I feel like doing.  I actually try to make it a part of my day because I like to do it, and not just because of how my body feels after I exercise. I set the timer for 30 minutes and go.

I may not be "up to speed" after three months but I am developing a habit that I have never done successfully before...all because I'm letting myself be natural.

THE CONCLUSION

As I jogged along one time, I was contemplating this natural inclination to push myself and started pondering about the difference between natural man and being childlike.  My natural man wanted to eat and not go outside. I did have to overcome that "natural" thing. God had told me to do that several times.  However, I was becoming childlike in my experience of jogging, naturally wanting to progress and improve.  When we can get ourselves in a place to let ourselves be childlike and explorative of truth, then we will naturally want to improve. There's no natural man about it.

For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the ^fHoly Spirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

(A great way to memorize this amazing verse!)