Exercise, eating right and the spiritual discipline of prayer and scripture reading.
Why is it so difficult to balance all three of these positive life assets? I can manage to juggle up to two of these things fairly well, but add a third and SPLAT - the whole effort can go down the tubes like dropping hand-tossed-over-ripe tomatoes!
In the early spring of 2008 I came to the place were I knew I needed to make some changes in my life to allow for more physical activity or asthma was going to take my life over. At least that is the way I felt at the time.
Over the last year and a half, I’ve managed to add exercise at first 3xs a week and now I’m up to about 5xs a week. In May of this year, I rethought how and what I'd been eating and have been relatively faithful in eating much better than I had been in the past.
Yesterday as I jogged 2 miles without stopping, I remembered that day in late February 08 when it was all I could do to catch my breath after running only a few minutes to catch a train… and realized that a year and half later I’ve become stronger, healthier and about 25 lbs. lighter than when I started. Progress is good to see, but it sometimes takes a while to see it. Epically when you see ads that promise to help a person loose a size in a week. That is so unreal. Real is putting on the shoes and heading out the door for a year and a half and beyond.
A Sleeping with Bread buddy, Unfinished Person, posted this scripture on Monday and it seems to be a perfect fit for my current state of life.
“It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ [Jesus]. Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. Let us, then, who are “perfectly mature” adopt this attitude, and if you have a different attitude, this too God will reveal to you. Only, with regard to what we have attained, continue on the same course."
Philippians 4:12-16
Now that I’m moving and eating better again, I need to add consistent prayer and devotions. Why is it so hard to balance those three at the same time? I've had consistent times of actively engaging in spiritual disciplines, but sometimes I seem to be moving too fast, or too much to arrive at the place to recognize that I've got to take the time or even recognize that the day has passed and I've missed the opportunity.
How about you, have you been challenged to balance the physical and the spiritual necessities in life? I once heard someone refer to this imbalance between the physical discipline and the spiritual as spiritual anorexia. That is something I don't want to be...strong in the body and starving in the spirit.
What kind of suggestions would you have to someone fidgety like me to allow and build some spiritual reflection time into life? I think it's time for a spiritual meal, or a snack at least.
Maybe what I need to remember is part of the scripture above, "...I continue my pursuit toward the goal...", and to keep working on my juggling skills in the meantime.
Comments
And I like what you shared here--even if I didn't like it...especially if I didn't like it. (that just means "pay attention Mel!!")
I guess my answer is 'discipline'. I sucked at it. It's something you've learned with running and exercising. And you've been successful when you've persevered.
It's that same discipline I had to apply to spiritual exercises--even when I didn't 'feel like it', even when things 'were getting in the way', even when I didn't see/feel the value in it.
Same principles--discipline.....perseverence...
I won't say I have it down perfectly, cuz I don't.... but it's 'real', yaknow?
I think it is the same for the physical. Unfortunately, I still haven't found that balance, but I'm still continuing my pursuit toward that goal. :)