(Note: I work at Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company where we have an employee-led chapel service once a week. How cool is that?)
The coworker in charge of today's chapel service asked if I would be willing to help her illustrate the meaning of transformation. She was going to share some of her personal transformation journey, and then another coworker would share as well. To conclude the chapel service, she was going to show a music video. It was during the video that I had my opportunity to play a small part. Before chapel, she had asked several folks to stand up and hold a large sign describing their own personal transformations. Each sign was two sided and carried a simple message on each side. We were to hold up our signs to first show our "before" issue and then after a brief pause turn the sign around to show our "after" term of transformation.
Because my health journey has been so public, she asked if I would hold a sign. I was flattered and readily agreed. She wanted to know what words I would like written on each side of my sign. I thought, "how can I best summarize my transformation in only two words?"
My first idea was "fat" and "healthy." I didn't think that would be appropriate, so I kept looking for a better set of terms. "Unfit" and "fit" seemed too narrow. Eventually, I found a word pair that felt nearly perfect. I choose "apathy" and "zeal."
A little over a year ago, I was living an unhealthy lifestyle. My problem wasn't simply being unhealthy … it was that I didn't care. I knew what I was doing. I knew it was dangerous and would have lasting consequences, but between willful ignorance and apathy, I had made peace with it. While my physical transformation is far more visually obvious, the true transformation took place once I cared enough to seek the help I needed. That's where God came in and used Smallest Winner to continue my transformation.
I really do want others to benefit as I have and I am committed to helping people discover a solution for apathy towards their health. When someone starts caring, they start changing.
Where to start? How do you replace apathy with zeal? I'd start with prayer. Ask God to do two things: 1) help you want to change, and 2) help you act upon that newly acquired "want to."
Philippians 2:13 "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose."
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