Just MOVE

This post is by Rachael Gilbert.

It was official, I could no longer see my ankles. I had entered my final trimester of pregnancy and due to my pre-eclampsia, everything from my eyelids down to my pinky toes looked as though I had been stung by a sea of bees. 

I had no interest in moving my body, but the doctor’s order was for me to move for at least twenty minutes a day, even if it meant I was walking at a snail’s pace.

My husband was a personal trainer at the time. He volunteered to help get my daily movement in if I would come to his personal training studio on their lunch hour. 

I rolled my eyes on day one of training when my husband told me to warm-up on the treadmill. There was not a bone in my body that wanted to move. But my husband shared some advice that got me moving, “Babe, just move for five minutes. If you want to quit after five minutes and go home, you can. But if not, you can stay and we will do more. Either way, you moved more than you would have if you never started.”. 

I agreed to give my husband five minutes and before I knew it an entire hour had flown by. That principle of “Just MOVE” has stuck with me since that moment. 

Here is an acronym for MOVE I’ve adopted for the days I would rather not move. 

More love, less fear.

Movement was God’s idea. It is not a punishment. Take a look at your hands and how your fingers wiggle around. They are moving around joints that God delicately created. Every piece of our body was designed with a purpose. There is no need to punish our body out of fear. Move it in love. 

Offer what you have.

When I was pregnant, all I could offer was a simple walk, sometimes it was only for those five minutes. But now ten years later, I recently ran a marathon. God will bless what you can offer in this season. Bring the first fruits of your movement and watch him multiply your energy. 

Visualize the benefit.

When my husband asked me to commit five minutes of movement before I quit, he cast the vision of what I would feel like when I was done. That vision is what inspired me to get going. Start your day envisioning what it will feel like to begin with movement. Just five minutes will shift your entire attitude and increase your energy. 

Embrace your season.

There is nothing more humbling than being the swollen pregnant woman training next to women who were training for an athletic event. But comparing myself to them did not fuel me. In fact, the moment we begin to compare we forfeit our own beginning. Stay in your lane and embrace the season in which God has you planted.

Today, choose to MOVE out of obedience to God and to honor the temple in which He resides. He rejoices over your movement and wants to go on the journey with you. 

Rachael Gilbert is a homeschooling momma of 3, business owner, marriage & family therapist, blogger, certified marketing coach, creator of The Intentional Influencer, and podcast host of Real Talk with Rachael. Rachael helps women find their voice and be brave enough to use it. She loves to equip women to get real, live free, and pursue their God-given dreams. You can follow her at www.rachaelgilbert.com, as well as Facebook and Instagram.

Photo by Ryan De Hamer on Unsplash