Sometimes Getting Where You're Going Means Making Sacrifices

This morning I came to the sad conclusion that if I really want to get in shape, I'm going to have to cut some things out of my life. More specifically, I'm going to have to cut some things out of my diet. If only exercising alone could knock off the inches of flab I've still got to lose, I'd already be a size smaller than I was three weeks ago. Alas, it cannot. And so I'm reduced to facing the cold, hard facts of calorie consumption. Putting more into my body than my body burns negates the effect of all that wonderful exercise (ha!) I've been doing.

Which is why when I stepped on the scale this morning the stinking numbers hadn't budged. Not an ounce in a week. How discouraging. How disheartening.

How fitting.

I mean, it's not like I've been watching what I'm eating. I'm exercising, but I'm not exactly passing on the cookies.

Go ahead. This is the time when everyone gets to chime in and tell me that numbers don't mean anything. That muscle weighs more than fat and takes up less space, so while I might not be lighter, I'm surely looking better. Such wonderful, sweet words and so meaningless when I'm staring at the numbers that really do seem to mean a lot.

Now for the writing part. Personally, I figure I could leave the post as is and be done with it. You're all smart enough to figure out where I'm headed. However, I've still got an hour before I have to take my kids to the three hour piano torture. Oops -lesson. So, why not spend some more of it here?

What I've discovered about dieting is the same thing I discovered about writing a few years back - it takes a lot of effort.

I'm not trying to be scary, here, but the fact is, we can not be successful in the publishing industry if we don't make writing an important part of our lives. Being an author takes energy and commitment. Often, it also takes sacrifice. Of time. Of energy. Of emotion. It's so easy to play a game when your heart isn't in it and you don't really care about the outcome. It's so much harder when you do care. When you feel that winning will validate you in some way. Whether or not we really achieve validation from writing or getting in shape is for another blog. So, I'll just say that doing what God wants is always the right thing. And sometimes that means doing what we really don't want to do. Writing when we don't feel like it. Passing up on the television show or movie to spend an hour or two at the computer. Sacrificing our vision and dream for our work and allowing others to have hand in what we're creating. Reading over that manuscript one more time even though we're so sick of it we could burn it in the backyard and be happy.

Always, always making a conscious decision to do whatever it takes to get where we're going. And that means saying, "Okay, Lord, I'm not sure where this is leading, but I'm willing to make it important if that's what You want."

And if it is what He wants (and from reading many of your blogs, I know that it is)than we must be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to include it in our daily lives.

Which leaves only one question - are we?