In the week before Christmas, our Treadwalker broke. That treadmill had taken us a lot of miles. I averaged about 2 miles a day, 6 days a week for nearly 2 years. When it broke, it broke in glorious fashion. There was a loud noise, grinding, a sudden burst of speed, and then it froze.
I watched videos to see if I could diagnose what was wrong. I watched people replacing various parts on their equipment. I took mine apart. I looked at ordering replacement parts, but it would be a shot in the dark. The parts were hard to find as the model has not been made for several years. I bought it used from a guy in Canton. I was glad to get it at a reduced price and he was glad to get rid of it because it was his ex-wife’s and he never used it. We were unsure if we would use it, but it has provided a reliable outlet for exercise and I think we wore it out.
It meant that we ordered a new piece of exercise equipment. It arrived the day after Christmas. It was delivered during church and they sent me a text telling me so. I was anxious to get it off of the porch. I thought I had a package stolen (I was wrong, I had misplaced it), but I still had a feeling someone might grab it. I was needlessly anxious. When we finally arrived home, it was out front and there was a huge hole in the side of the box. I had a sinking in my guts that parts would be missing. We had two urgent time commitments and the best I could do was drag it off of the porch. I cleaned house, we had people over for a Christmas get together and when they left, some different friends came. It was not until late that I began to peer into the box.
The assembly instructions were long. I took out all the parts I could find. There were so many and I could not tell if anything was missing, but due to the size of the hole I was sure something would need to be replaced. I started into the process. The first four bolts proved nearly impossible to manage. I dropped one into the machine and had to spend 20 minutes recovering it. I was tired from the day and I decided to start fresh in the morning. It took a couple of hours to get it completed. There was not a single part missing. My dread was wasted energy. The first workout was hard and I could see that this machine is going to help take us to a new level of fitness.
This next year stretches out ahead of us. If we concentrate on all of the problems, we will be quickly overwhelmed. It we concentrate on the opportunities, we will be pleasantly surprised. God has good things in store for us. The last two years have trained us to see the difficulty. We see the hole in the side of the box. We anticipate trouble long before we know if there is real trouble. We are tired and frustrated from the fight and so we actually make things worse. Instead, get some rest. Let’s start over new. Just like exercise is a habit, so our attitude is a habit. Let’s practice seeing the best and not the worst.