Any Given Sunday

Any given Sunday, there is a battle. A battle between good and evil; between my Lord and Satan; between my laziness and my determination.

The battle is usually between church, hot yoga, or nothing. I usually know before I go to bed on Saturday night whether or not I’m going to church in the morning. Unfortunately, I don’t have a permanent church home right now, so it’s easy to find an excuse not to go. I do much better when I have people to go with, and when I have someone to hold me accountable. But on occasion, and more often than not lately, that doesn’t happen. But the battle is still there in my head.

I have no problem getting up in the mornings, but I seem to have a problem getting motivated to do something. And with me being the queen of justification, I can talk myself into, or out of, just about anything. For example, this was the battle going on inside of my head this morning as I lay in bed awake at 7:00 am (keeping in mind that I already knew I wasn’t going to church this morning):

Lisa “A” – (yawns, stretches, turns to look at the clock). Oh, it’s 7:00 am. I should get up and have some coffee then head to hot yoga for the 8:15 am class. It will make me feel so good about myself! And then I won’t feel so guilty about not going to church. I mean, exercise is important right? And I can burn off some of those extra Thanksgiving calories. Win/win situation!

Lisa “B” – Yes, you should. But, on the other hand, it wouldn’t be so bad if you stayed home to finish putting up the Christmas decorations in the house. That way you will feel so much better and organized, and the house won’t be a disaster, and you can start the work week off on Monday morning feeling great about what you’ve accomplished!

Lisa “A” – But, if I was really efficient, I could go to hot yoga AND finish putting up decorations, and squeeze in everything else in between the other plans I have for the day. Just throw on your yoga clothes and go.

Lisa “B” – Ok, deal. Let me just look up something on the internet quickly while I’m waiting for the coffee to brew and I have a few extra minutes, then I’ll get ready.

30 minutes later….

Lisa ”B” – (as I’m sitting at the computer sipping my coffee). I mean, I really don’t think I have time to do hot yoga AND finishing my decorating for Christmas after all. It just won’t fit into my day and I don’t want to be stressed about organizing the house later in the day. I want to be able to relax tonight to get mentally prepared for work since I’ve been off for a few days.

Lisa “A” – (huffing and puffing). Fine. Just sit on your fat bum at home, and when you finally getting around to putting up Christmas decorations, I hope you’re happy. Just remember that those pieces of pumpkin pie aren’t going to walk away from your hips on their own.

Ok, so the reenactment above may not give you the most accurate picture, but you get the gist. It really truly happens any given Sunday. Not kidding. My first struggle is always whether or not to go to church. I’ll be open and honest here (as long as you promise not to judge). I know that I should be going to church. But without having a church home, I don’t feel drawn to any one place, which makes it hard to commit. I have good intentions, I really do, but sometimes that’s just not enough. I know that’s no excuse, but that’s all I’ve got right now.

Then, the next struggle has to do with something else that I know is good for me: hot yoga. I LOVE hot yoga. It’s actually a love/hate relationship. I hate it when I’m in the midst of it, but love how I feel afterwards. And I just KNOW that I’m doing my body good. Lots of good.

But, the temptation to sit at home, or go run errands, or catch up with a friend, or whatever else is there to distract me, sometimes is just too strong. And I don’t necessarily think that it’s God vs Satan each time. Sometimes I think it’s a good thing to catch up on life. Sometimes I think that’s what God needs for us to do. It’s certainly better than physically sitting in church, worshipping and hearing the message, but being distracted by the million different things that are going through your mind and not listening to the message. Satan’s gotta love that!

I have other ways that I connect with God and have good Christian fellowship. I have a fantastic small group of ladies whom I do a Bible study with on a weekly basis. And meeting with them is sometimes the glue that keeps me together that particular week. And I jam at the top of my lungs to Christian music most of the time that I’m in my car, which gets me thinking and praying a lot while I’m driving. Living in Houston, that’s probably a good thing!

So, as I wind down another Sunday evening, am I disappointed with myself and what I accomplished today? No. Do I wish that maybe my day would’ve gone differently? Sure. But decisions were made early this morning that I can’t take back. I didn’t go to church. I didn’t go to hot yoga. I did finish putting up my Christmas decorations. And luckily I had Bible study with my girls tonight to top off my day. So all in all, the day wasn’t so bad after all. It was any given Sunday.