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| A Fitness Plan for 2001 |
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 for the week of January 1, 2001
by Rubel Shelly
The start of a new year is the perfect time for making some commitments about fitness. Need to take off a few pounds? Need to be more frugal in spending and zealous about saving? Need to end this year with more spiritual muscle?
"Just by making a few small changes in your life, you can really make a big difference in your savings and retirement," says Bryan Olson of the Schwab Center for Investment Research. As 2000 was drawing to a close, the center released results of a recent study that showed giving up potato chips with lunch could save $176.80 a year and generate retirement savings of $10,483.62 in 20 years, assuming a ten percent return.
The same principle was illustrated with a number of indulgences that are not uncommon in our time. Giving up two doughnuts a week could boost your nest egg by $6,552.26 in two decades. Switch from double latte with whipped cream to regular coffee, and you could save $429 per year — a whopping $27,028.07 at ten percent over 20 years.
Dropping the potato chips would also eliminate close to 10,000 calories per year. Suppose you eat a bagel with cream cheese three times a week. Just by skipping the cream cheese, you would toss 54,000 calories a year from your diet and save $117 — or $7,371.29 over a 20-year investment period.
Olson released these facts to underscore one of the oldest investment maxims in his industry: Regular investments, even in small amounts, will make a big difference in savings and retirement. What works in fiscal fitness also works in physical fitness. And the same axiom applies to spiritual health as well.
I once heard a lady express admiration for a Bible teacher she respected. "I'd give half my life to know the Word of God so well!" she gushed. "That's about what it would take," a bystander replied. I'm not sure she got the point.
We'd prefer instant Bible knowledge from a pill or potion. Most of us would pay well for self-control, peace of mind, or power in prayer. But spiritual life is like physical health or fiscal soundness in one critical way: All the positive steps you take, even the smallest ones, make a significant difference over time.
The art of change begins with a plan. Even the things only God can change in us depends on our plan to be open to the work of his Holy Spirit. Pounds, pennies, and prayers — success with all of them begins with a plan.
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