We are fans of “The Biggest Loser” in our house. We love the stories and seeing people truly regain their lives. It’s amazing to see someone go from being near death to being healthier than the average American in a short time.

There is a short segment they did on the show for a couple of seasons that was really amazing. Of course, they do a ton of comparison shots to show you the amount of progress this person has made since going to the ranch. But this clip is one of my favorites. I’ll have to describe it for you, but you’ll get the idea. I’m sure you’re familiar with the treadmill and the role it plays in the show. Especially toward the beginning. They spend a lot of time on the treadmill, so it’s not surprising that they would have a sequential shot from it.

And that’s the shot I’m talking about. It’s the shot that shows their transformation as they walk on the treadmill. They go from barely being able to move to being able to jog at a pretty good pace. It’s amazing and inspiring. And in a 5-10 second sequence we can see the transformation. It’s astounding.

The thing we don’t think about, as we sit on the couch and watch them sweat, is the amount of time they spend off the camera working on that treadmill. From what I understand, they spend an average of 4-6 hours a day exercising. No wonder they’re so upset when they work that hard and have a week where they don’t lose a single pound. They’re on the ranch anywhere from 3-6 months, then, if they make it that far, they spend another month or two working out from home. If we do a little simple math, we see that they spend at least 1080 hours working out.

As we watch the show over a 12-16 week period, we see that transformation take place in fractions of an hour. We don’t see even 1% of their workout time. So, when we decide we’re going to do our own version of the biggest loser, it’s no surprise that we give up shortly into our first workout. Because we don’t see just how hard they worked to get to that point.

One of the amazing things about this treadmill shot is that we see the contestants go from barely being able to walk, often-times falling, to being able to run easily. In the beginning they can’t keep up, they stumble and fall. But as they grow (actually shrink) and get stronger and chip away at their 1,000+ hours, they become more and more capable of their use of the treadmill.

Proverbs 4:11-13

I will guide you in the way of wisdom
and I will lead you in upright paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered,
and when you run, you will not stumble.
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
protect it, because it is your life.

The same is true for us in our journey. We are learning our footing. We are learning the way we should walk so we can walk in it. The path will not be easy at first. We will be weak. We will stumble. But this proverb carries with it the idea of the walk getting easier and easier the more we do it. Just as the treadmill gets easier the more we are on it, the wise pathway gets easier to walk.

At first when we walk, it will be challenging, but when we begin to run we will not stumble. Here’s the thing. We can’t allow ourselves to become discouraged when we do stumble. That’s a part of the process. We have to get back up and keep walking. We can’t allow ourselves to become doubtful when things aren’t changing as quickly as we’d like. We have a lot of hours we have to put in before we will begin to see significant results. But the more hours we log, the quicker the results will come.

And once we have gained this way, we must never let it go. We must protect it because it is our life! Just as we hear the contestants talk about the life and years they’ve gotten back, we too will see the life we are getting in return for walking in this way.

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