Sunday 12/2/18 4:58 AM
I have been exercising at the gym three or four times a week
for the last few weeks, running on an elliptical trainer. At first the lights
and noise of the music distracted me. The past few times I have been listening
to the music I am trying to learn for Lightshine, a group with whom I sing. I close
my eyes and focus on the words of the songs, all of which point me to God and
his goodness. I find my gym time to be more enjoyable and I’ve been running two
and half to three miles each time at a pace of about 9:30 per mile, much faster
than the rate I have been running previously. When I work out, the first thing I
do when I get back home is have my devotions, so my early morning routine is
starting to return to normal.
Friday night Jaci and I went for dinner to one of our favorite
Lebanese restaurants, Open Sesame, in Long Beach, and then walked the canals of
Naples looking at the Christmas lights. We were early enough in the season that
the crowds were not too bad, and we had a nice, leisurely stroll while holding
hands and talking. On the way home Jaci said that I seemed happier than I have
been recently. I think she’s right. Earlier this year when the doctor told me I
could no longer run I was shocked. I think I have been mourning that loss for
the past six months. Now that I have found a different exercise routine, and I have
restarted my routine of morning devotions, I feel like my spirits have been lifted
and I have more joy.
One would think that having a relationship with God would
be enough to buoy one’s spirits but, for me, it seems my exercise routine is
also a part of that relationship. God loves me, body and soul, and apparently, I
need to experience that love of God with both body and soul.
G'day Mark!
ReplyDeleteI'm not nearly as diligent or as accomplished as you in daily exercise (reminds me of our math classes, eh ... you were always the more diligent and accomplished in those too!). But I'm glad you've found the elliptical and the soul-full benefits it affords you.
Actually, it's that soul-full element I'm curious about. You referenced it in the previous blog too--the needed tendering of the soul. Separately, and so now again as I read your blog, I've been wondering what it means to love God with our soul? What is our soul? I have a sense of what our body/mind/spirit are, but what about soul? What is soul that is not mind, or spirit, or body?
When you love God with your soul, what does that mean?
Yup, just like so long ago in college, I still have all these trifling questions that I like to throw your way. :)
grace and peace to you, friend.
bill
Thanks for your repsonse, Bill. Wow! I usually don't think that deeply. That's probably why you pursued philosophy as a minor and I pursued chemistry as mine. My guess is that I used the terms body and soul because of the reference in the reading that I had yesterday without giving much thought to it. In Deuteronomy 6 we are told to love God with ALL our heart, soul, and strength, but it doesn't define the terms. I would love to sit down over a cup of coffee sometime to discuss these ideas but, in the meantime, I'll leave it to the philosophers. I'll stick to the molecular structure of the caffeine molecules in your coffee. Maybe Aaron Reppman would know. I hear he had a good high school geometry teacher who taught him a little logic.
DeleteG'day Mark!
DeleteHa ha ... I've just returned to my desk from a lingering lunch with Prof Reppmann ... and yes, I did ask him about the soul :)
By the way, philosophy hooked me so deeply I majored in it ... which prompted more--both an MA and the PhD. But still I turn to you to ask my best questions :)