Fit

Appatently since he was 15 all he ever knew was drugs and drink. He had gone through a wide range of drugs and at one time or another had kicked the habit. But the drink always remained.

It was his constant. When things got wirsevand he got involved in some traumatic events, he went to drink for refuge. It never left him, and as his life drifted from one booze-fuelled day to another he saw no way of escape.

As he sat drinking the soup in the foyer, he looked at his surroundings. All the Christian stuff – letters, posters, pictures.

“It makes you think, dunnit,” he mumbled, “what am I doing with my life?”

He looked at his wasted figure. He felt he wasn’t fit. He felt he didn’t fit.

Meanwhile at Complete Fitness, she was pushing herself on the treadmill to make it to 30 minutes of jogging. She had done well in the year since she started. She had lost the weight and was feeling great about herself. Het friends noted the difference in her outlook – the gleam of determination, the new confidence.

What they didn’t know was behind the ‘new’ her was fear. A fear that if she didn’t change she would not fit in. A fear that if she did not change, she might suffer like her Mum did in those final days before she went way too soon. The fear gripped her.

She would soon be the same age as her Mum was when she passed on. She did not want to suffer the physical agony – she also didn’t want to suffer alone like her Mum did. As much as she had friends, though and as much as she lost weight, she still didn’t feel fit and she didn’t feel she fit in.

Different worlds, different lives, same problems. Same problems not being solved with external devices whether drink or the gym. Same problems that cannot be solved from without or by sheer will power.

These problems are sometimes obvious but are often covered in the disguises we put on.

Thank God, Jesus walked among those with similar problems not to condemn or preach at them. He came to walk alongside them, so that in Him they might find hope. In Him they might see where they belong.

In Him they can be fit and fit into His everlasting love and redeeming healing grace.

We who fit in Him can share His love so others can fit in.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden