Quest

Lately I’ve developed the annoying habit of losing things, and it takes me a while to find them again. I think it might have something to do with old age, or being distracted, or being a scatterbrain in general, but whatever the reason, I don’t like it. Not one bit.

But there’s one thing I’ve lost, and I’ve been trying to find it for years. Perhaps you’ve seen it? This week, I’ve decided enough is enough. I’m on a quest to locate it, and nothing will stop me.

I’ve lost my twenty-year-old body.

I’m not kidding. I recently saw a picture of myself at twenty, and wow. I was built like a cheetah. Okay, a short-legged cheetah but still. My muscles had definition. My skin fit tightly. And there were no lacy bedazzlements around my eyes.

Where did that go? That cat-like body has morphed into something that looks like it was built for comfort, rather than speed. I have more skin than I used to. In fact, I have more everything than I used to.

So this week, in a quest to find that tightly-packed skinny girl again, I joined a gym.

You can stop laughing now. The thought of me in a gym isn’t that funny.

Okay, maybe it is pretty funny, but you can at least pretend to be supportive. I mean it. Stop laughing.

The lady at the gym was a sweetheart. I loved her! She told me my fitness goals were well within my reach. She told me that if I worked out faithfully three times a week, I’d see significant results in a three or four months. She told me she was proud of me for making this change in my life.

Then she weighed and measured me. I didn’t like her very much right then.

Finally, she walked me through all the fat-burning, muscle building stations, and I did it! I worked out. And worked and worked until I had a very un-feminine glow about me.

So there you have it. In the coming weeks, I plan to eat less and exercise more, and hopefully I’ll find some faint image of that girl in the picture. But even if I don’t, I know I’ll feel better and have more energy. As for the bedazzlements around my eyes, I guess they’re here to stay. And really, there’s nothing wrong with a little bling here and there.

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree . . . they will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,” Psalm 92:12-14.