Fattening Up and Slimming Down

Disclaimer: This is not my dress, nor veil, but it is a good action shot to capture the feeling of being lost in wedding details that I'm sure I'm not the first bride-to-be to experience.
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We're getting married in 75 days!  But who's counting?  Really, the wedding website told me.
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I bought my wedding dress in January.  Maybe a mistake.  Worse though was having it altered in February. Now for five months I can't gain or lose a pound.  With the stress of finishing up my three years of ministry here, supporting Angie through maybe the biggest transition of her life, preparing for culture shock/reverse culture shock, and planning a wedding I can't let it affect my metabolism at all. Somehow I have to perfectly balance every calorie I consume with one I burn.  It's a sensitive equilibrium that's making me wish my dress consisted of more elastic.  
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But really it's a balance we all deal with every day between being obese and being anorexic, or more commonly between putting on a few pounds and needing to put a new hole in our belt. 
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When we're young and growing we have much higher nutritional requirements. Angie can eat two or three times more than me and never has to get up early to go for a run, she barely even knows what a sit-up is, she only grows in one direction -- up. But eventually almost all of us have to start thinking about sliding out of bed in the morning to do some form of exercise or we start expanding in other less desirable directions.
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I'd venture to say it's important that we find a similar equilibrium in our spiritual lives as well. 
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If the "calories we consume" are God's Word through the Bible, sermons, wise counsel, and community with other Christians, then it's important to take in as much as we can when we're initially growing in our faith as young believers.  But at some point if we don't start burning those calories they'll just build up into some unsightly love handles.
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For the first ~21 years of my life I consumed calories. I sat in the "pews" taking it all in. Attended the youth groups, read the Bible, prayed, gorged myself on the spiritual food, I was fat. Finally, when I found a church plant in veterinary school that could use my help I started serving. Serving for me led to more endorphins than even running, thus I got hooked.  For those four years in Auburn, AL I spent the time I wasn't studying, and probably some of the time I should have been studying, leading community groups, attending campus ministries, going on short term mission trips, being used where God could use me, maybe subconsciously making up for lost time. 
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After graduation, I didn't slow down, but moved on to serve at Southeast for three years, a different church in almost every way, but with just as many needs.  Then to Mosaic, back to church planting where my heart still is, for a year. And now I'm finishing my third year in Bolivia with La Viña. 
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After learning about God and His grace in the written and spoken words of the Bible and other Christians for so many years, serving has brought me to a whole new understanding of His love and compassion. It's not only a necessary step for sharing His blessings, but for fully grasping them as well.
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However, just like with exercise, you can only get so far without replenishing your energy stores. Now between the church, the ministries and the single motherhood, some days if I turn sideways I might disappear.  And that's no credit to me, it's to say that sometimes I let the needs and the endorphins take priority over what's even more important -- nourishment to my soul. If I don't meditate on His Word daily and communicate with my Father, I'm not abiding in Him, I'm not filling myself up to spill into others.  
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The danger of becoming weak and puny from lack of intake is felt more by those around me as I'm cranky or short, or nearly murderous toward the Aerosur office when they cancel my flight and decide they're not going to re-book me with another airline. I imagine it's different for everyone, but I see the pitfalls of being "overweight" as leading to self-righteousness, a holier-than-thou attitude, an unhealthy slant on knowing the Word instead of living it.  
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So in light of all this, I'm going to try to get back on track now, get in shape, and find the balance. But unlike the countdown to fit into the dress, this program doesn't have an end-date, I'm going to be perfecting it for the rest of my life.