Are You a Wise Investor?

Definition of 'Investment'

An asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.

Bible's definition for "Investment"

Matthew 6:19-21(MSG)

^19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

I was thinking about an upcoming trip that my husband and I will be making and to tell the truth I wondered if it was a sound investment. It is going to cost money to travel far away, rent a car, eat some meals, etc. We were visiting a young couple that we were very close to when they lived in the same town with us. I was getting "cold feet" and was asking myself why we were doing this.  I even sent them a message and asked "Are you sure you want us to come?"  Of course, their response was so comforting and assuring. "Yes, we can't wait. We haven't found a replacement for you guys in our life!"  

Immediately, I realized that this was exactly what we wanted to do.  We had invested so much in each other's lives. We wanted to continue make contributions of emotions, time and money in their lives.  We were actually stockpiling our treasure into something that is indeed safe from moth and rust and burglars. The rise and fall of the stock market did not have anything to do with our relationship with this dear couple!  

There are many other people in our lives that we have invested in.  My sons and their families are the first ones that comes to mind.  A wise friend told me that she and her husband take their grown kids on a family vacation each year on their dime.  She said "If you pay, they will come."  Mark and I, that very month, began putting money away for a trip to the beach.  We sacrificed the entire year to make that first trip happen.  We loved treating our boys and their wives to a vacation. We did without some things that we wanted to buy to meet our savings goal.  Last year, we added a grandson to the continuing tradition of spending a week together each summer. Next summer our newest grandson will be there! It continues to be a sacrifice but is the best investment we have made at this point in our grown son's lives. The new outfit I might have bought, bigger payments to an IRA account, even a new truck to replace my husband's 12 year old Toyota, seemed like a bad investment comparing to what we were gaining. 

There are many small investments I can think of.  Trips to Starbucks anytime I see my nephew.  Breakfast with my nieces when they are in town. Sponsoring and writing letters to 4 boys in Ecuador and India and a new girl from Columbia(Compassion International). Driving ten hours several times a year to see my sisters. Easy drive!  My husband is driving:) You get the point.  I could invested every penny I have used in each of these examples into the stock market. However, investing money in the stock market, while good to pay retirement bills, is of no eternal value.  The stock market can be wiped away with a catastrophic event at any point in time. These relationships with family and friends are exempt from a drop in the market. God knows that when put our money into things that really matter, we will gain back a guaranteed investment.  We must keep in mind that the investments must be consistent, over time and that we must be patience as we wait for our investment to grow in the lives of our friends and families. Yes, there is risk and the investor must be a risk taker...no place for a conservative man or woman. You must be all in.  

You don't have to be a millionaire to put treasure into another person's life.  In fact, the rich may not have the stomach for this job.  Involves people and they don't always cooperate.  Just be wise enough to see that you will gain far more than what you put in.

New Year's Resolutions

Most of America will either be making New Year's resolutions or vowing that they will NEVER make a New Year's resolution. I believe that we need to set goals…the more specific the better. Even if we are already happy with our health, our finances, our spiritual decisions, and our relationships(and I would love to meet you) there is still a desire to make sure we are progressing and not digressing. A year from now, you will be glad to look back at your goals and see a small advancement in an area of your life.
How do we begin in this process? Believe it or not, I start the second semester of each school year by teaching this process to my 8th graders. This is precisely what I tell them to do.
First of all, I ask them to decide what changes are needed to be made in their life. I do not decide those changes for them, no matter what faults I may observe in their lives. It would be tempting to ask a student with terrible study skills or faulty organizational skills to set those areas as their goals. But I will not do that ever. To make a goal for yourself must be something that YOU choose.  You must be ready to tackle that area of your life. If someone nags you to make a change and you are not ready, pick another goal.  That may be "cutting off your nose to spite your face" simply because it may really be a change you need to make. However, you want to make that change for you and no one else.
I ask them to make about 5 goals. I do not want them to make all grade related goals just because this is a homework assignment. Many times, the other goals they need to make could enhance their grade issues. For example, they might have a bad habit of staying up too late because they are on the phone or computer. A better goal would be to get more sleep. That would in turn translate to better grades. If your goal is to be more productive or have a more peaceful morning, you may need to turn off the TV or computer and get more sleep.
 I always ask them to make relationship goals. I make suggestions like…be more obedient to your parents or be a better friend. I also suggest that they make a goal related to any sports or hobbies. When they make a serious goal like improving in a sport they love, that transfers over into every other area of life. On the flip side, if they are not motivated to making a goal pertaining to an enjoyable activity then they are way too complacent in other areas of life.
After they have chosen about 5 goals, I ask them to make them extremely specific. They are not allowed to say, "I want to make better grades next semester."  This is the kid equivalent of saying, "I want to lose weight."  If that is your goal, forget about reaching it. It is not specific enough. You need to say something like, "I want to eat more protein, more vegetables, drink more water, eat no more than one bad snack a week, keep a food log, add exercise 5 times a week, have a meal replacement once a day, etc.  You get the idea. You can get even more specific and specify how many fruits and vegetables you will have per day and what exercises will you be doing and what time will that be. The more specific, the greater the chance you will reach your goal.
I ask them to write a plan about how they will reach that goal. Sometimes their goal is(believe it or not) "I want to have a better relationship with my parents."  I teach AMAZING kids! Their plan could be to help set the table every night or clean up the dishes or sit with them for at least 15 minutes at the end of the school day and ask them about their day. Can you see how exciting this is to read these goals?  Some of my students set goals about volunteer work. I actually encourage this if they are willing. Their goal may be simply to visit a homeless shelter or babysit children at a woman's domestic violence shelter…at least once. I encourage them to take very small steps because they may be scared to begin but they want to be a world changer and don't know how to start. One time and they are hooked for life!
Last step I ask them to do is find accountability partner. Unless we are willing to put ourselves and our goals out in the open, we are probably not going to succeed. We are not made that way. I shock them when I say that their parents or their teachers would not be a good accountability partner. We have too much invested in their goals and cannot be objective. I ask them to choose a dependable friend. However, the success will not depend on that friend. Their success will depend on them. The friend just has to ask them, at agreed on intervals, "How are you doing?" I tell the student that they must start off from day one being honest when they mess up. Do not waste the person's time by lying to them about your progress. Hopefully, your accountability partner will be encouraging but will not be devastated by your failures. You will feel badly enough. NEVER ask your spouse to be your accountability partner for that reason. They have too much invested in your success and cannot be objective. They are there to simply be proud of your success and love you anyway. You will feel terrible when you disappoint them. Just take my advice, don't ask your spouse.
They have to email me their goals for a homework grade:).  I usually email them back a copy of their goals at the end of the school year and wish them continued blessings on their life. I would recommend that you pick someone to email your goals, preferably more than one person. If you keep this a secret, you are probably planning to fail and don't want to lose face. Just do it. Email someone.
Your only regret will be why didn't you do this sooner. Good luck!

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. 

I have been on vacation for almost three weeks(two different trips).  I wanted to wait until I returned to write more about making a commitment to stay healthy. I actually wanted to see if I would stick with my healthy eating before I wrote about it.  Otherwise, I would come back and regret every word that I had written.  Good news...it can be done on vacation!  I am not by any means advising you that you should never eat unhealthy on a vacation.  This is a personal choice for each person.  However, for me, I decided long before I went that it was worth trying to make good food and exercise choices on a trip and still enjoy the trip! 
First of all, I realized that every place you go, whether visiting in a home, sitting in an airport for 3 hours or going to a restaurant in a tourist location...you can make a healthy choice.  I did it.  I also found numerous opportunities to exercise.  I came home from the trips feeling good about myself and without a weight gain. I am NOT saying this to make anyone feel guilty about how you handle vacations.  I just know how slippery a slope it is for me to gain all my weight back.  I am not ready to slide down that slope.
First of all, I found a lot of ways to exercise.  Almost all hotels, motels or condos have a room set aside for exercise. My husband and I went each morning, while the rest of the family was relaxing, to either lift weights or walk/run on a treadmill.  It was not a big deal at all.  When we visited out of town guests, they took us on a hike in the mountains.  We even rented mountain bikes and we were rewarded with magnificent mountain views that we would have not seen otherwise.  When we were ready for dinner each night, we walked to the restaurant and enjoyed not having to find a parking spot in a crowded tourist town.
Keep in mind that this is all new for me. In the past, vacation was a time to overeat more than I was already overeating:). I would have never considered exercising. However, I came home from trips with a weight gain...and a lot of guilt.
I must tell you some things that my husband and I noticed on this vacation. My husband tends to be very friendly.  Each night, we ended the day sitting in the hot tub of the hotel.  Mark would talk to each and every guest that happened to be in the hot tub with us. He would make conversation about good places to eat and invariably the most popular places mentioned were the ones they "served the most food." The quality of the food was not as important as the quantity of the food!  Is this what we have become as a nation? Probably no need to mention that Mark and I were the only ones walking to the restaurant in this tourist town. The weather was pleasant and there were multiple restaurants within two miles of the hotel. The traffic and parking was an ordeal but everyone else chose to fight the traffic.  I am not advocating walking everywhere when you are at home.  We chose to walk because we were in a tourist town and it was an easy way to get in a little exercise.
As far as food on the trip, I could order a salad with grilled chicken at nearly every restaurant. At one place I ordered chicken fajitas and asked them to leave out the tortillas. We were a little disappointed at what our hotel called a "hot complimentary breakfast."  That consisted of biscuits, pancakes, and waffles.  I opted to go to a fast food restaurant, ordered an egg McMuffin but did not eat the muffin. My breakfast consisted up egg and a meat, which is a fairly good choice for breakfast. A protein breakfast will keep you satisfied longer than a biscuit. A small package of almonds, kept in my purse, was a nice thing to have if we were nearing an ice cream shop or something like that.  Even when we had a 3 hour delay at the airport, there were salads, cheese, celery and plenty of apples and oranges. I guess I never noticed them before because I was always "on vacation."
This was a stunning revelation.  I never knew that people could actually stay on a healthy diet on vacation. I had the mindset that vacation was a time to splurge.  You had to splurge or it was not a vacation.
 If you want to quit reading, you can. At this point I wanted to relate this to a story in the Bible. In the book of Numbers, the children of Israel were eating only manna, provided everyday by God in the desert. They got really angry about this fact and began complaining.  They were saying "If only we could go back to Egypt and eat that good food again.  We had it made."  Funny thing...they were in slavery when they were in Egypt. Sometimes when I am on vacation, I may get bitter and say "I deserve this delicious desert."  In reality, my overeating kept me in slavery. I don't want to return to that kind of slavery.  To exercise my choice and eat anything I want will mean I have very few choices about what to wear when I return home. Something to think about.

Is it okay for Christians to overeat? Don't shoot the messenger!

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I am attempting to examine what this verse really means. How far do we take this verse as a Christian?  Does it only apply to the "big issues" or does it apply to things like how we spend our money or what we eat for lunch?  In what ways should we be different and in what ways is it okay to blend in to the world's ways? In particular, I have been looking at food issues and how we take care of our body.  Should we look like the world in those issues or should we take a strikingly different stance?

We could look around at prominent Christian leaders and observe that they seem to look about the same as the rest of the world. Many are overweight.  Many lack the physical stamina through lack of exercise. I want to look at my own life with a critical eye and see if I am trying to not copy the behavior and customs of this world.  Because this verse implies that if I don't copy them, God can transform me into a new person by changing the way that I think.  Then I will learn that God's will for me is good and pleasing and perfect. Notice I said that I am looking at myself, not others.  When I mentioned that popular leaders are not following this standard for their life, I realize that more fingers are pointing back at me if I dare to point one finger at them.  So let's make this clear that this is about me, not anyone else.  If you see me in a fast food restaurant eating french fries, it will be obvious that I am just like everyone else:)

What are America's habits for eating?  Obviously we are missing the mark badly in this area. Take a minute to read the following article on health issues in America.

Excess body weight: A major health issue in America

For many people, the modern American lifestyle has led them to eat more unhealthy foods, eat bigger food portions, and be less physically active. As a result, the number of Americans who are overweight or obese (very overweight) has been rising. About 1 in 3 American adults is now obese, and another 1 in 3 is overweight.

Being overweight or obese can have far-reaching health consequences. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excess body weight increases the risk for:

• Heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol levels
• Stroke
• Liver and gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Arthritis
• Abnormal menstrual periods and infertility in women
• Certain cancers

Overweight and obese people, on average, do not live as long as people who stay at a healthy body weight throughout their lives.

Not only are more adults overweight or obese, but more children are, too. Among children and teens, about 17% (or 12.5 million) are obese, a rate that has almost tripled since 1980. Some of the same health problems affecting obese adults can also affect obese children. These include heart disease risk factors such as high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, as well as asthma, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, muscle and joint problems, and liver disease. Obese children and teens are also at higher risk for social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem.  Obese children and teens are more likely to be obese as adults. 

How many times will we read these statistics and ignore the fact that America is growing weaker and weaker as a nation?  Can we continue to rationalize away the issue that is not only an epidemic in America, but the Christians don't look any different from the non-Christians?  No stone gets thrown at the speaker if someone points out that Christian divorce rates are the same as non-Christian divorce rates.  We are aghast and say this is wrong!  But the weight/health issue is protected somehow from debate.  It seems okay to be overweight and under-exercised.  Just a little nag of discontentment.  Just a little depression about the way we look.  But no radical alarm that this is not right.  We should enjoy health more than anyone.  God is saying, "My ways are best.  They are good.  They are perfect.  Try them and you will see." You will never hear this proclaimed from the pulpit.  Someone might be embarrassed.  

Remember "there is no condemnation in Christ...none." Period.  Never.  Just a conviction that he wants better for us than the food-addicted, stress-induced cravings, handle-depression-through-eating-ice-cream type life we are choosing.  I have said this before.  I have lived that way most of my life. However,  I am not living that way at the present time and I enjoy life a lot better than I used to.  I am seeing that his ways are really better...amazing actually:) 

Ponder this verse and see if you are conforming to the world or are you actually choosing a narrow way that very few are walking on these days.  Life doesn't have to be so miserable. God wants an abundant life for me and you.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Freedom fromFood

I thought it might be helpful to share some things I have learned about managing my weight. This has been a life long struggle. After years of trying diets, I have realized that some things just work and others not so much:).  So for what it is worth, here is my list of things that work for me.

1)  Plan ahead what you will eat for the coming day and/or coming week.  If you know that you will have a tricky situation, plan for it. Pre-decide ahead of time. Decision anxiety will set you up for failure.  Decide which restaurants are good for you and which restaurants are a death sentence, in terms of fattening foods that you know you can't resist. Decide before you go to that restaurant what you will order and do not look at the menu.  Look online to see what a good choice will be. I tell the waiter when I order EXACTLY what I want and ask if that is okay.  For example, I would never let them put salad dressing on the salad. It must be on the side so that I can dip my fork(yes, I said fork) and drizzle it on the salad. Make all tricky decisions ahead of time.

2)  Make a mental box of what food items that you will eat for the rest of your life. Sometimes I think this is where we get bitter about having to diet. I came to this important conclusion...we do not have to have anything we want, anytime we want. As a Christian, I especially want to speak to that. We give up our rights to our life when we accept Jesus as our Saviour. We do this because his terms are so much better than our terms.  His ways ALWAYS satisfy beyond what we can imagine.
We need to realize that as rich Americans(and we are all rich in comparison to most of the world) we have come to expect to have countless different food choices to consume. We think this is our right!  Most of the world probably has 5 food choices.  I have come to realize that the fewer the food choices I allow in my mouth, the simpler it is to make choices and the easier it is to eat healthy. We all need a denial list to be more focused in any area of our lives, especially in the area of food. I LOVE having fewer food choices. It has provided me freedom from food that I have not experienced before.

3)  Track what you eat.  This is an easy task, but not always done by dieters.  Why?  Too confronting!!!  We don't want to confront the slice of pizza or the 7 cookies we ate. Because I am a Christian blogger, I need to add this perspective.  Whenever we keep things secret, whether from shame or conviction, we will not be able to receive that grace that God offers us. For example, if we know that eating too many sweets is not healthy for us and we try to hide that act from ourselves or others in our lives, we are missing out on the grieving and healing process that is available to us. There are many ways to track our food and exercises.  I love the smart phone apps that are free. Lose It or My Fitness Pal are just two of the ones that I know are easy to use and help set your calories and track them.  For a small fee, there are apps that allow you to plan ahead and track even more than just exercises and food consumed.

4)  This is not a well-known diet tip but it has worked for me.  Have a meal replacement once a day.  It is hard, if not impossible, to eat three low calorie meals a day without a lot of planning and commitment.  I have found that if I replace one meal per day with a protein shake, I reach my calorie goals for the day with much less grief and struggle.  There are many good quality shakes on the market at many price ranges.  Slim fast(not very filling), Shakeology(my husband has used this for three years), Whey protein shakes, ...the list is endless.

Notice that I am not advocating a certain diet plan.  I am promoting a total life style change.  When I think of all that I missed by being overweight, it grieves me.  Now when I am tempted with a slice of cheesecake, I quickly remind myself that I do not want to head back down that road. I cannot think of a single food item that it worth it. Try to hold up everything item of food that you know it not good for you but you don't think you could give up. Is that food item worth that much???  I realize that most people would say, " a bite of that would not matter." You have to decide for yourself if it would matter to you.  Only you can decide that.

Last tidbit I want to share.  I heard a well-known Navy SEAL speak this morning at my church. He said something profound.  He shared that when we accepted Christ as our Saviour, we became a "marked man or woman." By that he meant that Satan has put his "scope" on my back and he will stop at nothing to bring me down. When I was lost, he was not zeroing in on my life because I was not a threat to him. But when I gave my life to Christ, I became a threat to his kingdom because I may help bring other people to Christ. For some reason this afternoon, I was contemplating discontinuing this blog. However, God can use something that I say to plant a little seed in someones heart that will ultimately bring them to saving knowledge of Jesus. I think I will accept the fact that if I stand behind Jesus, my self-esteem will be okay because writing this blog is very scary to my self-esteem. Hope this helped someone to experience freedom from food because we can be set free from areas that have us in bondage.  

A Blog About Exercising

Some people are too lazy to plant seeds. So at harvest time, they look for food and find nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ERV)

Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.(Proverbs 13:4 NLB)

As I continue with the theme of transforming your mind, I wanted to talk about some of the reasons I believe we are not successful in the area of weight management.  Keep in mind, these are areas that I have struggled with and had to confront.

The major component of success in managing our health is grit. Grit is a favorite quality of mine:) Grit is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals. A person possessing grit does not require immediate positive feedback. Individuals high in grit are able to maintain their motivation and focus over long periods of time despite experiences with failure and adversity." Wow! How true in the area of weight management. We did not become out of shape overnight and yet we want to become in shape instantly. Remember that managing our health is a marathon and not a sprint.

The opposite of grit is laziness. Everyone has to struggle with laziness. Our first response is to skip the workout. Always! Our second response is to do an easier workout:). We have to keep in mind that the instant gratification is not worth it. The long term reward is always worth the wait.   The principal of delayed gratification is true in every area of life...money, relationships, success in school, diet and especially exercise. That is where grit comes in.  Exercise will never be convenient or easy. It does not  show immediate results, other than the way you feel about yourself when you are finished!  

The single most important thing that I started doing as far as managing my health was weight lifting. Yep, you read that correctly...building muscle. As an older woman, I did not grow up seeing other women lifting weights. Now that I have completed 1 1/2 years of weight training, so many pieces of the puzzle are making sense. I started looking differently even before I lost an ounce. Once I began to change my eating habits, I found it easier to actually lose weight. I will not get into the concepts of "muscle burns more fat" or "you will continue to burn calories after a weight training day."  I do not feel knowledgeable enough on those topics.  I will say that I am a believer in weight training and wonder why I never knew about it for most of my life:)

In addition to weight lifting, I began riding bikes. The first time I rode a bike, I thought I would die.  It was just too difficult. I continued because of the grit factor. I purposefully attempt to do things now that are physically unpleasant in the short term because there are very pleasant in the long run...having to buy smaller sizes. In the beginning of my weight loss phase, all I could do was walk. I would encourage you to try something more difficult as you are able. I just finished week 4 of a running program. I do not even know who I am these days!

Long term results concerning exercise are listed in many articles...even increased mental acuity. A physically fit 75 year old will be miles ahead, mentally speaking, than an out-of- shape 75 year old. I think it is worth it to make small investments of time, consistently, to reap large benefits in the years to come.

I will blog about what I eat in my next blog. Nutrition is 80%. Exercise is 20%. You cannot walk enough to take off all the weight you want to lose. I am convinced that both components are necessary to achieving the health that we desire.

I exercised everyday on my vacation this past week. I am amazed.