As we age our physical ailments
overtake us and they seem to become the topic of conversation. When we are
younger the response to “How are you feeling?” is much different than when we
are older. If someone asks how I’m feeling it never cross my mind to tell them how
I’m feeling spiritually, but if I were to evaluate my spiritual health I’d say I’m
fit, trim and ready to run a marathon with energy to spare. Maybe by borrowing
a quote from Jesus I can cover both the physical and spiritual systems checkups
and say, “…The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matt 26:41b).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I had a friend in college who loathed the fact that relieving one’s self was a part of life. Daily he complained about how demeaning that chore was. My chosen loathing was over the weight of my body. I’m not talking about the excess blub. I was trim in those days. I’m talking about its entire weight. It not only seemed impractical to me, it was a burden to drag around. In my early twenties, when I was so disparaged by being an idiot (I couldn’t have been a fool, because I knew the Lord, I just didn‘t do well in what I knew,) I would lay on the couch for hours in depression, not moving a muscle, I so loathed even the feel of my body‘s motions.
-----I don’t know what my friend ever did about his problem. I hope he kept going. But I eventually came to understand my loathing over the body’s weight came from my perpetually existing tendency to fall over lazy. The “feeling my body motions” I learned to like. Now, when I get those lower back pains which nag the mind into perceiving “I have back problems!” -I just throw myself into enjoying the feeling of every muscle of “the walking complex” of muscles being consciously engaged, throwing out longer strides, straightening up more balanced, and engaging my body purposefully. It feels good. And my back stops hurting. But still, every time I carry an armload of firewood up our steps into the house, I wonder why I have to weigh fifteen times more than my load. Even some good dieting would only trim that ratio to thirteen-and-a-half.
-----I’ve got only a few years to get the lazy thing under control. If I go into my late sixties with a propensity to sink roots into couches and chairs, then my body will turn into a bigger cluster of aches and pains than my mind will be able to sort out. I’m not too sure my spirit is willing. Its roots go back through many couches. That leaves my poor little mind rather alone. And as much as it’s always detested being a nag, I fear for my chances of achieving more activity.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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