Leaving a Legacy of Health

What legacy are we leaving to the next generation with our health?  Mark and I are on a road trip. We are brainstorming ideas about how we can, as a team, encourage our generation to maintain or even regain their health. Statistics(Center for Disease Control) show that our age group tops the list of obese Americans at 39.7% of the over 50 crowd being overweight. Can you wrap your mind around that fact? Unless things change, over half of our age group will be overweight  in a few short years! Good grief! Is this the legacy we want to leave for future generations?

I will not waste your time reminding you of the enormous health risks involved or the financial burden to our work force. In a matter of time, the consequences of poor choices will catch up with us and become reality. Instead of focusing on the negatives to our own lives, I want to encourage you to make some changes.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I am new to this but I am in! Good health is what God intended all along for us. It was not his plan for us to drag through the day carrying 20, 40, 60 or more pounds. His plan is for us to walk around with joy, not because we inherited a million dollars, but because we are living life to the fullest. 

Do you know a person who is obese and is filled with joy? Haven't met one yet. We are planning our next diet. We say "I will be happy when I weigh ___." Yes, I realize that there are articles that state that we should accept ourselves just as we are. However, if I am 50 pounds or more overweight I contend that that is maybe not a great idea.  In James, it talks about learning patience. "If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be." The Bible never talks about accepting yourselves just the way you are. It talks about letting God have control and helping you change. 

Practicing healthy behaviors requires patience...good grief, a lot of patience. It has taken a year and a half to lose the last 35 pounds I needed to lose and to become more skilled in weight lifting and bike riding. Every single time I ride bikes, it hurts! Every single time. However, it has built endurance and strength that I did not possess. Lifting weights is difficult. I never want to do it, ever.   But it has built such confidence in other areas. For example, the  courage to write this blog and not care about the haters I will encounter by writing it. We say we desire maturity in our lives but we don't want to pay the price through perseverance. 

I desire that our generation leads the way in perseverance, maturity and wisdom. We are not reaching our potential. The younger generation is looking to us for answers. They are observing how we are handling marriage.  How are we parenting? How are we handling money? How are we handling our free time? What are we reading? What are we looking at on the Internet? How are we handling our bodies as they age? Are we aging gracefully with strength and vitality? Time will tell the impact we will have on the next generation. I want to be a light to the younger generation. I want them to see the power of God through the way that I live.

In Psalms 103, it says that "He gives us plenty of good things. He makes us young again, like an eagle that grows new feathers." I need some new feathers.
Just an extra note here...if you are overwhelmed and need a plan, email me at pat_cooper@sbcglobal.net or go to my husband's website(coopbringsit.com) and see what he does. He is a MACHINE...like he is not made like the rest of us.  He is truly Superman.