Gospel Message Day 48

In the Little Things, Part 6

I've had a chance to work out on this vacation. I love to exercise, especially the exercise DVDs I own. They are motivating and they really work me out. So on this vacation, I have been able to find the time to exercise and thus experience the joy of sore muscles. Even though uncomfortable, I love feeling sore. I love knowing that I'm working my body, and that my body works. Today I did the 40-minute stretch workout, which has a lot of yoga in it and which I find to be quite relaxing. It was just what I have been needing on this vacation of relaxation and rejuvenation.

Every day I am grateful that I am able to do things. In my lifetime, I have had friends and family members who have had varying amounts and kinds of physical disabilities. One of the most debilitating was my dear friend Melinda, whom I've probably blogged about before. She was a friend back in VA. She suffered from Locked-In Syndrome. Her mind was fully functioning, but she was basically paralyzed from the neck down. Over the 3 years I knew her, I saw her regain a few mobile functions--flexing her fingers on occasion. Moving her head really well. The biggest achievement I ever saw was lifting her leg at the knees. It was huge! Things like that make me grateful every day that I can move myself in my sleep (and I move a lot!). That I can sit up. That I can walk, run, dance. I can brush my own teeth. I can fix my own hair. Knowing Melinda, I learned a great deal about not taking the little things for granted.

I am a reasonably healthy person. Though I have some physical ailments, they are nothing compared to Melinda's, or what my cousin suffered before he passed on, or what so many others have to go through. In honor of them, and for the joy for myself, and to make as much use of the abilities my Father has given me--I do what ever I can. Whether it is running my 5K races, or doing high intensity interval training workouts, or working out my upper body and abs, or stretching, or dancing, or just standing because I can...I just do.