Old dogs and daily walks

I am dusting off some of my first posts from 2009 and republishing them. A little rough around the edges but a walk down memory lane.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” – 1 Corinthians 4:16

1 Corinthians 4: 16

How many folks choose to live unhealthily? Not many will admit it. It’s funny now to think that the Hostess cupcakes I was so fond of into my 30s, would be a not just be preservative-filled junk that kept its shelf life, but would preserve that calorie around my midsection. In my teens and early 20s, I worked my tail off and had nary a fleshy pound. Today like my youngest son, I have started back to work out in the gym – but for different reasons. He, like others his age works for sports as well as to show off his physique . I on the other hand have to fight to build muscle and keep the weight off. I like to eat, so I am grateful that exercise has kept me at a balancing point. But stubborn belly still defies me.

I should take a life lesson from my dog, Happy. He was a ball of fire for his first eight or nine years. For a couple years now his muzzle has declared to the neighborhood that he is “getting on in years”. With all the work commutes and such, I didn’t walk him or my Aussie very much in recent years, Both they and I began to reflect the lack of exercise in that time. But with the arrival of a third dog, Nubby when my mom couldn’t keep her – daily exercise is back on the regimen. Twice a day, I individually walk the dogs, then in the middle of my work day, I am at the gym for an hours. It’s the healthiest I have been in ten years. The benefits of improved energy and clear mind, have me thinking the next fifty years might actually be possible as well as in good health.

Even so, one day I as well as my old dog will reach the end of our road. In Scripture it says we are all inwardly wasting away. Like that old fella today, I look forward to that daily walk here on earth. At some point though, I wish for the day when I could eat that Hostess cupcake without remorse, if they serve them in the Hereafter!