For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10
In my opinion, it said more than it knew. After my enrollment in the program to send me down the path to a medicine and diabetes free future, they sent me a box full of treasurers. I wrote briefly about my treasure box in a previous blog titled, “Bread, Potatoes, and Pecan Pie.” If you missed that one, you might want to go to www.gritswithgrace.com and check it out. Anyway, the box was filled with gadgets that would monitor me, my body, and my health. Most of them I found helpful and even engaging but there was one…there was one that I did not like.
I am an Apple guy…well, not necessarily the kind you eat but the kind you use for work and information. I own an Apple computer, an Apple iPad, and an Apple Watch. One of the things I like about owning the same brand in my work and life tools is that they talk to one another. Well, when my box of treasures arrived, it included a Garmin activity tracker. It kinda, sorta does the same thing my Apple Watch does but with a different platform. It certainly is not an Apple Watch, but I figured I might as well give it a try. Not willing to give up my Apple friend on my right wrist, I strapped the Garmin on my left wrist.
I know, I know, that sounds a little wonky and honestly it probably is but the Garmin looks and works very differently from my Apple Watch, so most people don’t think I am wearing two watches. In fact, they probably don’t think anything about what’s on my wrist. While the Garmin the device itself is not much to talk about—it is small, hard to use and blah—the app it talks to on my phone is very cool. In fact, somehow it provides much of the same information as its big cousin.
One day I was going through the App, checking out the different screens and all the information it had gathered and analyzed. I was impressed…until I wasn’t. You see, there was a screen that listed about ten different areas and measurements—all about me and my body. Most were fine, most were informative but one—one was downright offensive. It is called, “VO2 Max.” According to the app, the VO2 Max is a direct indictor of my level of fitness and apparently my “body age.” How this wimp, too big for its britches, something that doesn’t even know me (you can tell by now that I was personally offended by this useless chunk of plastic), I am out of shape and, get this, physically almost a decade older than I really am.
That’s right folks, according to the Garmin I am physically in the bottom 30% of men for my age and my body age is not 69 but 78. Ok, I’m still mad and here’s why. This out of shape, “ten years older than I am” guy, on the day after the assessment, took a brisk (as in pretty fast) two mile walk, walked 11,419 steps, burned 2,451 calories, and climbed eight flights of stairs. Now from where I sit that isn’t too bad…certainly I am no couch potato. I mean what does this thing really know about me anyway? And just for the record, my Apple Watch has another opinion about me…and so does my Dearest Daddy.
When I read those words, I knew I was faced with a choice. I could believe what it said or believe what I know to be true. I could believe what some formula, probably written by some guy in a faraway land, or believe what my reality says. I am choosing the latter. Now let’s be honest…I’ve got lots of room for improvement, but I am not some physical loser. I just don’t believe it. The Garmin caused me to take a look, a close look, at where I am physically but it also caused me to take a look spiritually. It caused me to ask, “So what do you believe about you—what others say or what God says?”
On the surface, it is a no brainer—I choose to believe my Dearest Daddy. He calls me (and you) a masterpiece…no, really, He does. In Ephesians 2:10, His Book, the Bible, says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Now, how about that? Trust me on this one. There are plenty of people and plenty of things that are just waiting to tell you what you are or are not. But you remember this—there is only one opinion that matters and that comes from the One who made you. So, I my wear the Garmin but I don’t own its opinion of me…I’ll leave that with the One who loves me more and perfectly. He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 