Bonnie Smith
Growing Old Gracefully

This morning I was thinking about how little time have and frustrated with the lack of time I’ve had to do what I love, which is haven my coffee date with God. Life has been robbing me of my usual hour down to 5 to 15 mins and my peace and joy are rapidly drifting away in the fast running river of our culture. However, as I was fighting hard for my coffee date and nursing back pain from overdoing it in the gym, a question popped into my head “What are you worshipping?”. Bam 💥 🤦🏼♀️ That hit me hard! And when an unpleasant question like that comes to me, I know it’s God. So what am I worshipping...what have I placed more important than God that is competing with my passion and love for Him? Too often, I’m ashamed to say, is to look like athletes that are 20 years younger than me. I’m going to be honest, 50 years old scares me and it’s approaching fast. I’ve never considered myself a vain person and I guess I still don’t but I do know that I am a normal woman who doesn’t enjoy watching her youthfulness slip through her fingers. However, there is balance in this and I am going to learn to “grow old gracefully”. And by that, I mean offer myself more grace and be kind to my body. Listen to my husband when he says he finds me beautiful no matter what size I am. Give my body more of what it needs and less of what it wants. Starting today, I am flipping things around. My new daily goal is to make sure my coffee date with God is longer than my workouts AND instead of scrolling through Instagram looking at physics that drive me to workout too hard and eat too little, I’ll find an online devotional or book to read in its place. AND...what I’m NOT going to do, is let this re-prioritizing be an excuse to not workout and to eat whatever I want. God still wants me to take good care of my temple and I still need to be healthy in order to carry out all God calls me to do. So let’s use these scriptures below to help us find balance in our Faith & Fitness journey! If you need help with this, consider joining me for one of my GraceCamps. (Link in bio) “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Luke 16:13 “Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.” 3 John 1:2 “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” Proverbs 17:22 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20