November 24, 2015
Fast of Foot
The news reported on an Amish
man who runs marathons in his traditional clothing of slacks, long sleeve shirt
and suspenders, along with non-traditional sneakers. He went through a rebellious
streak in his teens and his brother-in-law introduced him to running. The young
man said that whenever he is tempted to sin he runs. Well now that’s a concept!
Paul said, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith,
love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2
Tim 2:22 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Not only is the application of a good metaphor limited, it risks the absurdity of its abstract being mistaken for concrete. I would laugh out loud at this guy if it weren’t for the fact that the effect he achieves more than redeems the absurdity his technique makes of Paul’s metaphor. Then, having cracked open the door of reasonableness, Paul’s metaphor begins to melt a bit into some rather common knowledge.
-----When I first began my accounting career, my boss occasionally told me to take a break when I was being overcome by a problem that was not working out. “Walk around the block, when you get back it will fall in place,” he would say. Of course, I never would. My nature is to press the nose until it bleeds. In a sense, that’s what I did to my manic-depression before I became a CPA. The advice I was given about my anxieties and depressions was to get away from things and get some exercise. And if I had not been too lazy to get some good exercise by working hard during my elations, I may not have fallen into the depressions again. (Funny how that would have worked.) But I was only physically lazy. Finally, I got away from manic-depression by the mental exertion of analyzing it while going through college.
-----That was a different kind of running. But it had the same effect as physical running, only from a different direction. Moods and emotional effects are maintained by hormonal secretions in the brain. Temptations, whether birthed in the intellect or washed ashore by moods run on strong emotional legs. Getting up on your physical legs and running some necessarily changes the hormonal chemistry of the blood, thus affecting the brain. Not only that, but, unless it is done on a treadmill, the scenery is constantly changing as well as obstacles are met which require some negotiation. Both the scenery and the obstacles demand mental activity engaging currently present circumstances more than the insoluble problem, the gloomy-doomy mood, or the insistent temptation. When you arrive back at the desk or the couch or from wherever was your point of departure, not only has your hormonal chemistry been altered, but so has your conscious stream of thoughts shifted. Your mind is ready to see from a new angle within a different mood.
-----So maybe the abstract of Paul’s metaphor is concrete enough to run on. And this guy is not being as absurd as my first impression implied.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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