I love to watch people. When we go to a restaurant, my husband and boys all try to face whatever TV is in the room so they can watch whatever baseball or football game that happens to be on. Me, as long as I have some folks around I am good. Can watch people and try to figure them out all day. Love it. Well...it bit me in the butt one day...literally.
I USE to run. I would go to the YMCA after work - at 5:00 in the afternoon. There were business types all around me...all the dinks and yups you could stand. Everywhere. I would come in and find my treadmill. It was the one that was facing the mirror. Gave me a good view of all of the people. I would watch the older and the younger come in...who was flirting, who was intent on their workout, those who looked like they would rather be anywhere else. I was pretty good at running and doing that. But...on this fateful day, something would go wrong.
As I jogged that great rhythm and watched the other folks around the gym something went terribly wrong. My foot managed to hit the side of the treadmill. My rhythm was thrown...somehow I stumbled uncontrollably falling to my knees....remember....the treadmill was still going. As my knees hit the treadmill the backward movement threw my body forward and as my body hit I somehow managed to flip to my back and was catapulted off the back of the treadmill to the carpet right onto my tail and then back. "That is what those stupid things you are suppose to put around your wrist are for" kept going through my head....until I saw all the faces over me. As I stared up at the ceiling, suddenly there were at least five people standing over me asking if I was okay. In my usual smooth and silky way I jumped up, feeling the blood rush to my face and murmured an embarrassed "I am okay- thank you" and pretty much walked as fast as I could from the room. I had only minor tread burns on my knees and mostly was pained in my pride.
What came to me later was - how often do I take my eyes off of what my focus should be? I take my eye off the ball and somehow manage to misstep and fall. My focus is pleasing my Lord and Savior. I place my eyes on the people around me instead...I have a horizontal view verses the vertical view and I stumble, falling hard and having to gather my wits and broken pride, humble myself before my Lord and Savior once again. I have to ask forgiveness and start all over again. Trying to remember next time to keep my eyes off of the people and on God. I am a much more successful person when I do this.
Needless to say, I never went back to the YMCA. I moved my membership and when I ran on the treadmill I did my best to focus on what I was doing...didn't want THAT to happen again! Of course something like it would...I am after all me.
Hey Missy!
ReplyDeleteI can only hope Mich and you can forgive me for checking out your blog - I was looking in her favorites for her brother's blog, and well, thought I'd read what you had to say. Here's my two cents (or two pence?) on some of what you've said, not that it's really necessarily worth that much:
I think we are too often frightened of what others might think - what if they knew I really (really) like to drink beer, or I smoked cigarettes, or what have you... I have to admit the skeletons in my closet are much worse than that and still - amazingly enough, we (I) forget that (1) we are forgiven, and (2) we are free! Remember that it is God who gives you your worth, not others and keep doing what you do!