In a department-store line, I watched an undergarment commercial on a screen above the cashier's desk. It featured women expressing dissatisfaction with their figures, while the camera zoomed in on their ...
Great to share all you experience and I empathize with your article. Gaby received what the article imparted to her and this highlights the dangers of 'I'm right and you're wrong.' God and only God will reveal all in the STILLNESS (Be still and know that I am God). Monks place great emphasis on 'go to your cell and it will teach you all you need to know' and part of the revealing MAY be more exercise. It is ONLY in our relationship in spirit and truth that the mind, body and spirit will heal. Try Awareness by Anthony de Mello. Love in Christ
Katrina
Posted: July 28, 2009 10:04 PM
"So maybe our bodies aren't the cars that drive our souls to the altar. Maybe they are an integral part of what we lay on the altar, and are up for healing and holiness with the rest of us."
Wow! I'm going to share that at a group meeting tomorrow (and the source, of course). Good stuff.
Bart Wang
Posted: July 28, 2009 10:44 AM
Great observations, Carolyn. Thanks for this. I think God has charged us to care for our physical and spiritual bodies as best we can. Exercise is great for both! I started running just over three months ago (I ran some of last summer and had some measure of a gym/exercise routine in the past few years) and have lost over fifteen pounds! I feel great!
I appreciate Dana's comment about persisting in an activity that we initially seek to avoid. I do not like running. I'd rather sit and watch TV. But I know it's value. Thanks for reminding me of the similar importance of reading Scripture, praying, etc. All those valuable disciplines may be awkward at first but I know I need them and will feel better/closer to Jesus after I do them!
Gaby, read the article again. You missed the point.
Gaby
Posted: July 28, 2009 8:15 AM
Why all the focus on exercise? Get back to the sacraments, where spirit and matter truly mingle, just as the incarnation taught us they should!
Paul
Posted: July 28, 2009 8:11 AM
I thought I read somewhere that moderate exercise is just as good as strenuous (and lower injury) and that for every hour you exercise you extend your life an hour so it "free" time and energizes the non exercise hours as well. Scripture says we can't add to our lives - but maybe we are subtracting from them with our inactivity and exercise is just getting them back to where God designed them.
Paul
Posted: July 28, 2009 8:05 AM
It's nice in our sedentary culture of cars and telephones and TVs when we can combine exercise with family time (a hike) or service (helping and elderly neighbor by shoveling her snow). We have bodies designed for hours of activity a day - sometimes we need to just "tune" them so they are ready for family (more energy for kids) or service (so I don't get a heart attack shoveling snow).
At 56 I try to get in 30 min to an hour of moderate or light exercise (low injury). I "retired from mens soccer about 6 years ago - too rough on the body to be a good stewardship. Now hour long walks on the beach with my wife I find more relational and good for the body. For intensity. swimming and reffing an occasional soccer game for community service.
TV is the time and body killer - helps to put a treadmill or Exercycle in front of it.
Joyce
Posted: July 28, 2009 8:04 AM
Well put! I will log off now, put on my shoes and get shuffling.
Material Girl
Posted: July 28, 2009 7:48 AM
Matter of fact--she's right!
Victor
Posted: July 28, 2009 2:50 AM
A thoughtful and compelling look at what God says. Affirmation that we are body, spirit and soul - fully redeemed in Jesus.
Scott
Posted: July 27, 2009 10:11 PM
That is most compelling and well versed.I hope in this life more Christians can fall into the blind grace which God has called us us all.
Luca
Posted: July 27, 2009 9:14 PM
Good interesting reading
charles alexander
Posted: July 27, 2009 7:22 PM
At age 73, I bicycle ten to 15 miles a day. I lift ten-pound weights, doing as many as 500 reps a day. I take good vitamin supplements, and an Omega 3 oil daily. (I've had one cold in 15 years.) I walk every chance I get. Instead of watching TV at bedtime I read for an hour or an hour-and-a-half. I meditate On Sundays I attend my local Metropolitan Community Church where I get and give hugs, and generally enjoy most of the sermons. As an artist I make art as often as I can and exhibit my work frquently. A healthy body, a mind receptive to creativity -- these are God-given blessings. Perfect adjuncts to Christian living.
Dana
Posted: July 27, 2009 6:54 PM
Fantastic article! I took up running about 3 years ago and experienced the same neighbor-scaring effects. I am happy to say that I am still running regularly and yet I still depend on the good Lord to get me over the finish line. There's something so refreshing about making my body do something it, at first mention, asks me to please NOT do. But it feels so good to be done when I finish. This concept could also be compared to my time with God--I often put off sitting still and visiting with Him, but feel so much better when I do.
Beth
Posted: July 27, 2009 4:42 PM
This reminds me of C.S. Lewis, discussing humans as being "amphibians" - half spirit, half animal: http://books.google.com/books?id=HpydZ7Xl1xwC&lpg=PP1&dq=screwtape&pg=PA37 Where the body goes, the mind will often follow. When we kneel, our spirit also kneels. It's something I think we've forgotten, and it's interesting to hear your experience with running. 1 Timothy says that physical training is of some value... Sometimes, I think its best value is just to calm the mind enough to listen.
Paul
Posted: July 27, 2009 2:51 PM
Excellent, excellent article. Thank you for finally exposing the fallacy of our gnostic plagued culture.
It's funny how in a culture which does not know what to do with 'the body', is so fascinated with 'the body'. Maybe we should dig up some Rene Descartes and Plato to find that Western Culture's dualism is destroying it.
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