Exercise as a Means of Giving Thanks

I am so incredibly grateful for my new lease on life. Six weeks ago, I was dying, struggling to walk a few feet, exhausted after making my bed, dreading staircases. Then suddenly--truly overnight--I had a complete turnaround. I can now walk miles with no problem and bound up stairs. I feel light and free and 20 years younger. A miracle if ever there has been one.

Because of my impaired physical condition, I had been unable to exercise much during the past few years. Sure, every once in a while, I would be able to take a walk in the woods, but eventually I would get chest pain and have to slow down. In short, I had sharply curtailed my exercise because I simply was not capable of accomplishing much of anything.

That has changed. Now I am so happy that I am in the land of the living again. I can walk! I can do household chores! I can climb stairs! Yippee! And as my way of giving thanks for being able to exercise, I AM exercising.

This morning I walked to the beach, then snaked around the quiet streets in the Rose Park district. Probably 2 1/2 miles all told.

What a fantastic feeling! I must have had a smile on my face the whole way because everyone I encountered smiled back. I was simply smiling to the world, and the world responded.

As I walked, I chanted, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." A million times thank you.

Of course, exercise will also help me maintain this renewed health. It's all working so perfectly. I am so happy and so thankful.

As I said to my son, "The prayers you say for me every night finally reached critical mass and BAM! A miracle!" Whether it was Aaron or something I did or the concern of friends or the intercession of a passing angel, who knows. But now it is up to me to sustain the miracle through exercise and smiles.