“Seeing danger and doing nothing doesn’t accomplish anything.”

A thought by Andy Stanley (2009-03-31) in his book, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I retired at 62 and moved to Long Island in New York. At that time I weighed 260 lbs. and I was slowly becoming an invalid. Also that summer we found that Margaret my wife was a type 2 diabetic. Now we could have gone into depression because of both our situations but we decided that wouldn’t accomplish anything. So we changed our diets and started walking. Margaret lost over 40 lbs. and I lost over 20 lbs., a start in the right direction for me but not enough.

When I turned 64 in June of this year I was in a holding pattern of 235 to 240. I wasn’t the cripple I once was but I still was in the danger zone. So I had to make another decision. Do nothing, do the same or do more. Doing nothing and doing the same wasn’t accomplishing what I knew needed to happen. One thing I had come to realize at 64 was that any task becomes more difficult the older I get so I had to step it up, I had to do more to accomplish anything.

I love my Starbucks time every morning but that time had turned into 2 ½ hours and I knew that had to change. So I cut that back to 45 minutes and then headed to the beach or to the mall and started walking 4 to 5 miles 6 days a week. I changed my diet some more which also had to happen. I’m down to 225 lbs. It is a slow process but it is a worthwhile one.

Now seeing the danger is very important. It is so easy to just stick our head in the sand and ignore there is a problem or even feel sorry for ourselves. Seeing is important but there must be more. There is a time to pray but then there is a time for action. Seeing and doing nothing accomplishes nothing. Knowledge is great but if it doesn’t lead to action it is wasted.

So do you see any danger in your health, in your relationships, in your attitude toward life? Remember, “Seeing danger and doing nothing doesn’t accomplish anything.”

So what do you think?

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