Good morning! What a week! I had my stitches taken out this week and then had some weirdness happening so I made the 2 hour trip to Champaign 2 days in a row. Happily, I just had some wayward tissue that didn't know where to go so it came out through my gums, scared me but thankfully, was harmless. Everything is doing well there. I made a mad dash trip to Lincoln to see my sister and the Pink Pumpkin Auction that she is one of the sponsors and directors of, and then right back to work. It was our first days of LIHEAP and those are always crazy but I have gotten to embrace the week and live this life God has given me to the fullest. This plays right in to what my topic is this week. Part 2 of my series.
3 Things the Bible Says About Strengthening Our Bodies
Last week we talked about nutrition and being a good steward of the body God has given us. This week, let's talk about actually strengthening that body.
I think sometimes Christians almost feel guilty for putting time into exercise. After all, doesn't the Bible say bodily exercise “profiteth little”? It does. But that doesn't mean physical exercise has no value. In fact, I think Scripture gives us a pretty balanced way to look at fitness.
1. Physical training DOES have value.
“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things...”
1 Timothy 4:8
For years, there was really one reason I exercised. I wanted to lose weight. A lot of people probably don't know this, but I was one of the original members of our Planet Fitness when it opened in 2018. I was going to the gym five days a week back then, even though I weighed close to 350 pounds.
I was trying. I really was. The frustrating part was that I wasn't losing the weight. Later, when I went for my consultation for weight loss surgery, they told me one of their requirements was to get at least 20 minutes of movement a day and try to reach 150 minutes for the week. I remember thinking, “Got that covered!” And I did.
But back then, exercise and weight loss were so connected in my mind that if I worked out and the scale didn't move, it was hard to see what I was accomplishing. I wish I had understood then what I understand now. The workout still counted. Every time I walked into that gym, I was doing something good for my body. I was using my muscles, improving my endurance and moving a body that was designed to move. The scale wasn't telling me the whole story.
Honestly, I still have to remind myself of that. I'm still on a weight loss journey. I haven't reached my goal, so yes, losing weight is still one of the reasons I exercise. I'm not going to pretend the number on the scale suddenly doesn't matter to me. But it's not the ONLY reason anymore.
Recently I had to back off my harder workouts for a week while my mouth healed from surgery. I gained a couple of pounds, and that old thinking immediately wanted to creep back in. But I had to remind myself that my routine and eating had changed and my body felt bloated. Sure enough, when I was able to get back to my workouts, those couple of pounds disappeared almost immediately. Another reminder that the scale can give me information, but it doesn't get to define whether I'm succeeding.
Today, I exercise because I still want to lose weight, but I also exercise because I want to protect the health I've worked so hard for. I want muscle, endurance, mobility and strength. Physical training has value. It just isn't the ultimate value. I can spend time strengthening this body while remembering there is another kind of training that matters even more.
I want a strong body, but even more than that, I want a strong faith. So I'll keep training both.
2. Taking care of our bodies is stewardship.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you... therefore glorify God in your body...”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Last week I mentioned that my grandmothers lived long lives, one to 88 and the other to 102. I also talked about how much my mom valued her independence right up until we lost her at 86. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that independence is going to matter to me, too.
I'm reaching 60, and honestly, I feel a lot younger today than I did when I was 40. I want to keep that trend going! I look around me and see people I love dealing with physical struggles. I watch my sister struggle with hip and knee pain. I watch Andrew deal with pain throughout his body. I know staying active can't guarantee that I won't have physical problems of my own someday. Some things simply aren't within our control. But there are some things that are.
Every time I walk, lift weights, work on my balance or improve my endurance, I feel like I'm putting something in the bank for the future. I'm strengthening the muscles that support my joints. I'm practicing balance while I have good balance. I'm working on mobility while I'm mobile and building strength while I'm strong. Not because I've been promised those things will keep me from ever hurting or getting sick, but because I want to do what I can with the body I've been given.
I want to carry my own groceries. I want to climb stairs. I want to travel. I want to get down on the floor and, maybe more importantly, get myself back up! I want to take care of my own home and continue doing the things I enjoy. And yes, I want to be the 80-year-old that nobody believes is 80.
For years, I thought fitness was mostly about changing what my body looked like. Now I'm realizing it's also about protecting what my body can do. That's where stewardship comes into it for me.
This is the body God gave me to live this life in. It's the body I use to work, serve, worship, love people, travel, laugh, help somebody who needs me and do whatever else God still has planned for me. I can't control everything that will happen to it, but I can take care of it today.
Maybe one of the best gifts I can give my 70, 80 or even 90-year-old self is to take good care of the body God has entrusted to me at almost 60.
3. Strength prepares us to keep going.
“...let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1
I don't know if I will ever completely change my mindset about exercise and weight. I've literally fought my weight all my life. I was the fat girl in school.
I remember being about 10 years old and starting to mature, but also having these little pockets of fat between my chest and my arms. Other kids noticed them, too, and they made sure I knew they noticed. I remember a boy following me down the hallway, jumping up and down like every step I took made the floor shake. I remember “Tubbo.” I remember “Two-Ton Tessie.”
Those things stick with you. I was fortunate. I had a feisty mom who helped me shake a lot of it off, and I had good friends who made those people matter a whole lot less. I really did enjoy my school years. But enjoying those years doesn't mean some of those words didn't leave scars. They did.
So I'm not going to pretend that after a lifetime of connecting my size to my worth, I suddenly don't care what the scale says or what my body looks like. I'm still working on that part.
But something happened the other night that reminded me just how much my definition of progress has changed. I was sitting in the recliner with my feet up and decided I wanted to take my socks off. I leaned straight forward, almost like doing a toe touch, grabbed both feet with one hand and pulled my socks off.
And then I stopped, because I remembered a time when I didn't even want to wear socks because getting them on and off was so difficult.
Nobody applauded. There wasn't a new number on the scale. I didn't hit a new personal record at the gym. I just took my socks off. But THAT is progress.
I know that isn't only because I've lost weight. That's stretching. That's working out. That's moving my body. That's building strength and becoming more flexible. That's training for my life.
Weight loss surgery was an incredible tool for me, but I never wanted surgery to be the entire lifestyle change. I knew I had work to do along with it. Ironically, exercise wasn't my biggest change. I already knew how to go to the gym. I had been doing that at close to 350 pounds. My bigger battle was how much I was eating and my relationship with food.
But as the weight came off, something happened with exercise, too. I could do MORE. I could move farther, bend easier, work harder, get stronger and try things that were difficult or impossible before.
Eventually exercise stopped being only something I did because I wanted my body to become smaller. I started doing it because I wanted my life to stay big.
I want to travel. I want adventures. I want to walk all day if that's what the day calls for. I want to keep working, serving, going places and doing things. I want to stay strong, healthy and capable of doing everything I do now for as long as possible.
That's what “running the race” makes me think about now. My race isn't somebody else's race. I don't know how long mine will be or what physical challenges may eventually become part of it. I certainly can't control everything that happens along the way. But I can train for the race I'm running today.
I can strengthen this body. I can stretch it. I can move it. I can nourish it. I can rest it when it needs rest. And then I can get up tomorrow and keep going.
Somewhere along this journey, fitness stopped being only about losing weight.
I still want a smaller body. But even more than that, I want a strong body that lets me keep living a big life.
THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE
This week, forget about the scale for a minute and ask yourself a different question:
What do I want my body to still be able to do 10, 20 or 30 years from now?
Maybe you want to get down on the floor and play with your grandchildren and be able to get back up. Maybe you want to travel, climb stairs without thinking about it, carry your own groceries, work in your garden, take a long walk, keep your balance or simply continue taking care of yourself.
Pick ONE thing you want your future body to be able to do, then do something this week that helps you protect that ability.
Take a walk. Do some stretching. Pick up some weights. Practice your balance. Park a little farther away. Take the stairs. It doesn't have to be an hour at the gym.
Just move.
Not because you hate your body. Not because you ate too much yesterday. Not because the scale told you that you need to.
Move because this is the body you've been given to live your life in.
Physical training isn't everything. Scripture makes that very clear. But it does have value.
So let's strengthen our faith. Let's strengthen our bodies. And let's do our best to be ready for whatever God still has for us to do.
I don't just want more years in my life. I want to be strong enough to put as much life as possible into the years God gives me.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
~Mindy
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