Easy Peasy

This morning as I was washing my hands, I looked in the bathroom mirror above the sink.  I stood there looking at my reflection.  I smiled.  My reflection, of course, smiled back.  Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I marvel at how far I have come in this journey.  As I go about life, I forget that I am changing physically as well as emotionally and Spiritually as I make this journey.  In my mind I think things like "Wow!  This is for real!  I AM CHANGING!" when I catch my reflection in a window, a mirror, or any other reflective material.  This usually leads to my thinking back to last summer before I began this journey.  I think of the pain I experienced.  Lately I have been quoting Proverbs 13:15b to my children.  This verse reads "...the way of transgressors is hard."  I quote this because I am teaching them that sin has consequences and does make life hard.  Harder than God intends for it to be.  This verse has also gotten my attention.  I worry about if I will be able to keep this weight off.  I worry that maybe the changes I am making won't stick.  Then I remember this verse and remind myself that if I am walking in obedience, I have nothing to fear.  I will succeed.  Life only becomes hard when we fail to obey.  The way of the transgressor is hard...my life was hard.  Very hard.  Pain ruled in every thing I did.  I would lose my breath and have to slow down.  I couldn't walk more than a couple blocks without having to stop and rest.  My heels were in constant pain, my back hurt more hours than it didn't hurt, and not only was I paying the price, my family was too.   I was obese because I made sinful selfish choices.  My life was hard because of choices I made.  No one forced me to eat those gross amounts of calories.  I chose to make my life hard.  With obedience comes freedom.  Amazing freedom.  Freedom to move without pain.  Freedom to play with my kids.  Freedom to serve others.  No, this doesn't mean life will be easy peasy all the time but it does mean that I will have the physical strength to endure.  My heel pain will always be a reminder to me of why I need to maintain a lower weight.  It has been such a blessing to only have a day here and there with pain instead of day after day after day with no relief from pain.  I hope I never forget that the way of sin is indeed hard.