LOVE HANDLES

PRACTICE: Write down the thought that came to mind when you read “Love Handles.”

For an entire Saturday morning, wherever I turned it seemed, I saw the words “Love Handles.” I saw it first on a church sign promoting a new study/preaching series. A little while later I was browsing a magazine at the checkout counter of the grocery store and came across an article about health and physical challenges entitled “Love Handles…same two words completely different meanings. Which did you think of when you saw the title?

Let’s consider the physical “love handles.” Just to be upfront, the name in this context implies something that is basically a lie – no one loves the unwanted fat deposit at or just below the waist and settled just above the hips. I have yet to meet a woman who brags about her muffin top or a man who is pleased with his spare tire. And for good reason – those “love handles” are annoying in general and unhealthy to be more specific. The worrisome fat increases the risk for fatty deposits around the organs of the body. It is a stubborn fat. From a spiritual point of view, “love handles” are sometimes just as annoying. Why? Not one of us can say that loving and living in a state of letting love handle “it or them” is easy.

To rid oneself of “love handles” around our middle and to engage in a lifestyle of “love handles” requires similar techniques. For starters with either, spot reduction (or loving only the lovable and when convenient) doesn’t work. To lose the “love handles” or love unconditionally requires a whole-body change including the attitude. A good initial step is a thorough cleaning of the diet. Replace fried foods, sweets and processed foods with healthier foods loaded with good nutrients. What might this look like on the other “love handles” side – give up being judgmental and replace with a grace filled attitude toward others. Commit to exercises that burns fat (cardiovascular) 3 to 4 days a week/commit to a daily intentional practice against the harmful, hurtful attitudes and actions toward yourself and others. And although, an overhaul of the entire body is necessary – concentrating on strengthening the abs and obliques helps to tone things up. When you know that you are challenged with letting “love handle” a certain person or thing faced regularly, engage the challenge with a mindset change. Does the person or situation change? Probably not! You have no control over that! However, you and I can affect the outcome of those encounters by changing how we enter and engage them.

So, whether it is the pesky “love handles around the midsection or the adoption a “love handles” attitude, a lifestyle change has the real potential to produce some pretty awesome result.

1 Peter 4:8

PONDER THIS THOUGHT – Handle everything with love.