Burpees & Blessings

Recently, I was doing a workout in my driveway.  I’m sure my neighbors enjoyed listening to me yell at myself, spit and blare the songs of Boyz2Men on my phone.  In this particular workout, I was required to do a lot of burpees.  If you don’t know what a burpee is, just google it.  As I grinded through these burpees, I began to pray.  Yes, most people pray when they see a large amount of burpees pop up in a workout.  But my prayers took a turn – a turn I could only describe as being steered by the Spirit of God.

It had been a rough week, and I was feeling sorry for myself.  Ever had a week like that?  I was telling myself that I just had a certain amount of burpees left that I had to do.  But as I began to pray, God prompted me with a slight change in that previous sentence.  I sincerely felt the Spirit of God encourage me to consider the amount of burpees left that I was blessed to be able to do (that I “got to do”).  The switch was from “I have to do”, to “I get to do”. 

I started to see the burpees as a blessing.  I was blessed to be able to physically perform this movement that would contribute to my physical health.  And that physical fitness would contribute to my mental health, which pours over into my emotional health.  You can see the domino effect here, all from one switch of perspective concerning a movement inside of a workout on a Monday morning (yes, only crazy people pick burpees on a Monday morning workout). 

This change of perspective sent me down a trail that would have me spending the rest of my workout counting my blessings.  It is a popular and powerful phrase:  Count Your Blessings.  I thought about the sheer amount of physical functions required to perform one burpee.  The organs inside of my body that allowed it to function properly.  The blood pumping through my body.  The lungs giving me oxygen.  My heart beating, my brain telling my body to do all of the things necessary.  The shoes on my feet, the clothes on my body.  The bed that gave me sleep.  The driveway I had to do burpees in on a cold, Monday morning.  The list went on and on. 

Here’s what happens when we count our blessings:  We realize how blessed we are.  Life is hard, yes.  And there are difficult weeks.  We all know this very well.  But we are also blessed so deeply.  Often, life tries to distract us from all the ways we are so richly blessed.  But let me encourage you to do one thing that will help you focus through the distractions of life and put that focus on the joys of life.  Count Your Blessings.  Seriously, start today.  Count 10 blessings today, and see what God does in your spirit.  He might help you start to see the blessings in the burpees of life.