Springfield Friends
Go Quakers!
From the Youth Room for March
YOUTH NEWS!

On Mondays, I rise early in the mornings to head to a local gym where I
teach aerobics.  I really enjoy meeting new people in the classes, and I try to create various workout programs to encompass the interests of
participants.  However, even though I enjoy the job, I do not look forward
to the early morning sweat sessions.  I feel that my body needs a cup of coffee, followed by a full-day's work, in addition to high caloric intakes
during breakfast and lunch.  I prefer to exercise after work when compared to the early morning exercise bouts.

However, I have studied health journals to conclude that working out in the morning helps raise metabolism, and therefore, increases the ability to burn more calories throughout the whole rest of the day.  It also promotes cell configuration to allow for a more balanced diet, and it invigorates our blood to pump to all parts of our bodies to tell us to wake up and face the day.  
    
Just as the health journals state the importance of early morning, physical exercise, the Bible states the importance of early morning, Christ centered exercises.  When we listen to God each morning, it can fill us with expectancy and a favor for a BETTER day.  (These BETTER days add up to a better life.)  The Lord wants us to have Him clearly in sight in order to follow Him.  He is willing to wake us up in the morning and make us alert to His instruction.  If we will seek Him with all our hearts, He will renew our strength and make clear our paths.  (Isaiah 40:31, Proverbs 3:6)
   
God wants us to enjoy our lives.  Jesus said, "I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance," (to the full, till it overflows!) (John 10:10).  Our days can be filled with overflowing joy that will spill into the lives of others.  We can experience this journey all day if we learn to start our days right - by spending time with God, reading His word, praying, and listening for His direction.  

So, when health journals suggest working out in the mornings can improve metabolism and blood flow, I agree.  However, isn't it more important to allow God to get our blood pumping, our brain cells stimulated, and our bodies ready to begin a day that, with God, can become a BETTER day?!
Kerry Jean 
Friend
Inspirational Quote
Imagine darkness so thick that you can't see your own hand in front of your face.  Darkness that covers all light, all efforts to guide and direct.  Total darkness is consuming and terrifying.  In such complete blackness, one thin sliver of light is the equivalent of hope.  It provides a direction to look towards and the hope of an escape from the darkness.  It is quite simply, a comfort. 
When the circumstances of life weigh heavily on you, drowning out all joy and hope, what do you do?  Some people turn their faces to the wall and hide, some run around blindly, and others become completely immobile. 
Are you able to look around for the thin sliver of light that offers hope and comfort in the darkness?  It is always there - in the tenderness and promise of God's Word, in the words of a song, in the smile of a friend.  God always gives that hope.  Look for it.  Find comfort in it.

taken from Daily Inpirations of Comfort by Carolyn Larsen
Theme Verse For 2010
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