Galatians 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (NLT) 

I loved walking and biking in my neighborhood. Over the course of spring, summer, and fall I challenged myself to continue building up my distance and pace. My husband and I biked together and separately. He would ride his bike along my regular walking route to bring me a bottle of water and cruise nearby as I made my way home. It was like a date.

That was then. This is now, two years into full-time care of my sister, Mitch, and part-time care of my 90-year-old mom.

I’ve given up a regular neighborhood walking routine. We’ve tried to stay active, biking on the weekends but only got out together a few times over the summer. For me, that made a 20-pound difference. Writing it makes it real, darn it!

What I didn’t tell you is that I always walk on my treadmill in the winter. Yes, we have one. But, instead of changing my routine I decided to have a “sit-in”, tossing self-control right out the window while I sat pouting is passive protest that I couldn’t enjoy my regular neighborhood walks.

I was mad about giving up something that kept me healthy and brought me joy.

Well, all that pouting put on pounds. That’s not honoring my heavenly Father (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). My protesting, or lack of self-control, not only hurts me it keeps me from doing my very best to care for Mom and Mitch. And since that is what I’m called to do in this season, TREADMILL HERE I COME!

That’s all for now. More on this tomorrow….

Go to the Table of Contents to read more posts in this series on the fruit fo the Spirit as they go live.

It’s October so this must be time for 31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free-Writes. The event is hosted by Kate Motaung over at Five Minute Fridays. We write daily for five minutes, or maybe a bit longer. The point is to write. Kate provides writers with a one-word writing prompt each day. Today the prompt ACTIVE.