It was a joy having them here...laughter ringing around the table each night and happy helpers to handle farm chores while we traveled to The Mediterranean on a dream vacation...
I was also "blessed" to have them encourage me to step up my exercise workout. Which for me was basically doing farm chores and mowing the yard...don't knock it...it's hard work ;-)
They loved the P90X Workout series and I (being of unsound mind and body) decided to try it with them...shoot me now...
For the uninitiated, the P90X Workout is a series of 12 intense exercise routines designed to take your body from regular to ripped (trust me, you will rip something if you try this workout...intense doesn't even do it justice...)
The 12 exercise routines rotate over a 12 day period. One day is a cardio workout, another day is an ab workout, another day is martial arts, etc. By day two I realized that doing farm chores and mowing the yard does not count as exercise. By day three I was crying. By day four I laid down on the nice soft carpet and ignored my healthy, ambitious children as they energetically exercised around me... It wasn't pretty.
So, imagine my surprise when I found out that day eight was a Yoga workout. Hey, I thought... I could so do that! No crazy kick moves, sweat-inducing sit-ups or heart-attack-causing jumping jacks. Just slow easy moves that sounded so...easy...like... the Mountain Pose, and the Crescent Moon and the Up Dog...
And, yes, I gave it a try.
Oh. My. Word. Can Yoga and Death by Exercise be put into the same sentence? I pulled muscles that don't exist. Totally blew my mind that something as calm and peaceful as Yoga could be such an intense workout (Katie and Jordan reminded me that the P90X tagline is "a series of 12 intense exercise routines." I tried to throw a pillow at them, but my arms cramped up into a brand new Yoga pose... it was sad)
I crawled into bed and begged Leroy to bring me water and aspirin. And while I waited for him to put me out of my misery (and stop laughing), I thought of the story of Moses and Amalek. Please don't ask how my mind went there, there is no figuring it out.
But, anyway, the story of Moses and the Amalekites. Here's Jane's-In-a-Nutshell version...
Moses rescued the people (Israel) from the hand of the Egyptians and then they wandered in the wilderness for a long, long time. While they were wandering, they ran into a group of bullies, the Amalekites, who wanted to kill them. This wouldn't do, so Moses told Joshua, his right hand man, to gather some men and go out and fight the Amalekites. And while they were fighting, Moses said he would take the staff of God and stand on the hill above them. As long as Moses stood on that hill with his hands held up, the Israelite army was winning. When his arms became heavy, and he lowered them, the Israelites started losing.
Quite a dilemma for Moses...because this was kind of like a major, mega Yoga pose. I think I will call it the Hands-Held-High Pose. And he had to hold that pose for Hours...battles between nations generally last at least a couple of hours... and while it sounds pretty easy... just hold your hands up, easy... it is not. (May I remind you that Yoga is an intense workout?!)
So, we have an Israelite army in the fight of her life, we have a leader standing in the gap for the people (Israelites) he loves, and we have a potential crisis due to plain, old weariness. If our leader can't hold his hands up high, all may be lost...
What happens next??? Stay tuned tomorrow to see if Moses can maintain the Hand-Held-High Pose and lead the Israelites to victory...
(If you can't stand the suspense, you can read ahead in Exodus 17:8-13...)
And maybe we can see how this applies to our 31-Day Grace for the Caregiver Challenge. And it does apply... I promise!
See you tomorrow. Praying Blessings of Grace over you, Jane
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