More than Meets the Eye

I have to admit, I have been complaining some lately.  I have a personal trainer that I've worked with twice a week for nearly a year now.  She's been great, until January.  Up until that point I had been paying her weekly, in December I signed a six month contract and started paying on that up front.  That is when she started skipping sessions, either totally standing me up or texting me right before our session was supposed to start that she couldn't make it.  And when she did make it, she just kind of stood there, pointed out machines to do and really was not "there" at all.  This was frustrating because I can work out on machines on my own, didn't particularly care about paying someone to just stand there and watch.  I wanted a change of routine, I wanted to use free weights and I needed someone to motivate me. (I see a lot of 'me, me, me' going on here)

About three weeks ago she told me she was handing me off to another trainer due to scheduling conflicts and administrative duties.  That went well the past three weeks and just as I get into a good routine with him, he tells me he is going to another gym and I'm going back to my previous trainer.  This whole trainer thing was starting to frustrate me but now I'm locked into a contract.

So this morning, it is raining, still getting used to "springing" forward and "losing" that hour of sleep, I text my trainer to make sure she is actually going to be there.  She texts me back, yes.

We actually had a good workout and she changed it up some and was a little more back to her "you can do it!" motivating self.  When we finished we sat on a mat and was talking some and she asked me did I know what happened in January.  I told her no, I just know she recently took time off for administrative purposes.  Turns out her husband died the first week of January. (she is younger than me)  She said she had a hard time getting herself going, much less motivating people to work out.

Suddenly my whole attitude changed.  Instead of being upset with her, I immediately felt so bad for her.  I wished I had known.  But it just reinforced the whole idea of the fact that we don't always know what is going on in the personal lives of those around us.  We get snappy so easily; at that lady who has 12 things in the 10 and under lane, well maybe she has a sick kid in the car; at the person riding on our bumper, maybe they are anxiously on their way to the airport to see a loved one just returning from military service; at the person who just almost ran into your lane, who couldn't see for the tears in her eyes; and for me today, the unmotivated trainer who had just lost her husband.  Maybe instead of complaining, we would do better by praying for those people around us that are irritating us.  And for some of us, maybe we need to learn to open up more so that people will know what to pray for us about.  Had she just told me I would have spent the last month praying for her instead of being upset with her.  Not everything is how you see it, sometimes there is more than meets the eye.