God gave you two strong legs. Use them!
It’s a strange feeling when you find you have uttered the exact words to your kids that your parents used. Especially when you see them roll their eyes and side-tilt their head just the way you did.
This particular saying is one of the earliest I can remember, followed by, “Eat your vegetables — there are starving kids in….” Still, my bittersweet favorite is the classic about having two strong legs. I remember the first time I pulled it out of some dusty closet in my brain and deftly admonished my firstborn. It was as if those words had been genetically imprinted, just waiting for some predetermined trigger to activate them.
Blaming God for your kids two strong legs seems natural enough, but the intentional application of guilt and finger pointing that follows with, “Use them!” makes everybody feel bad. Certainly the same kind of verbal intonation comes across when Nike says “Just do it.” So why can’t I bring back “USE THEM!” as a delightful reminder of what a blessing we have? Legs and arms. Eyes and ears. Hands. These are gifts and we animate them with our will. They are tools which allow us to interface with our world.
Like any tool, our body must be well maintained in order to work properly. Care and maintenance can determine whether we enjoy all life has to offer or fall into dysfunction and misery.
This is where the comparison, between man and machine, stops. An old axiom, which should at once challenge and encourage is, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” Each day we have choices. Some are easy, like deciding to drive on the right side of the road. The consequences of doing otherwise are devastating and immediate. Other choices we make each day are less immediate but just as devastating.
For instance, whether we go for that walk? Is that extra cookie necessary? Should I take a minute to sit and talk to a loved one? We face thousands of choices each day. Sometimes the answers take the form of a habit. We internally wrestle with other choices and then there are the outright decisions that round out our life experience.
Unlike when you were five, it is likely that there is no one in your life to tell you what to do. Perhaps it’s been 30 years or more since somebody said, “God gave you two strong legs. Use them!” Maybe those legs are no longer as strong as they were. Perhaps the dynamic “tool” that is your body, has not been maintained as it should. Dis-ease and dysfunctional aging may be demonstrating the serious effects of neglect.
Don’t despair. Each day is a new opportunity to make new and different choices. The rewards are huge. They are also available to anybody who is willing to make positive change. Renewed enthusiasm, proper nutrition, sufficient exercise, optimal nerve function, relationship building, adequate rest, and spiritual certainty carry with them remarkable results at any age or in any situation. The choices are yours and so is the outcome.
