The little metaphors of life: exercise

The Apostle Paul says, "Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."  He also said, "If I am out of my mind, it is for God, but if I remain in my right mind, it is for you."  (2 Cor. 5:13).  All this goes to preface that Seth brought home the Insanity workouts, and we've been learning a lot. 

The principle behind the Insanity workouts is to push the body to points beyond what the mind would have thought the body can endure.  It relies on circuit training and plyometrics to raise the heartrate above the aerobic level and then let it come back down.  The impact on the body is intense.  For the first two weeks, Seth and I were taking naps midway through the day.  We were that worn out, but we felt fantastic. 

 Call me medieval, but where there is a spiritual comparison, I have to make it, and the discipline of starting a new workout routine is too metaphorically ripe to leave on the tree.  I don't think working out is a spiritual exercise any more than I think eating is a spiritual exercise, but anything touching life itself has a spiritual element, and anything but anything can be a spiritual metaphor.  The  Apostle Paul often used athletic metaphors, and it's my personal opinion that our Lord was very physically fit.  He spent his childhood putting together houses, most likely, and climbed mountains for his morning prayer times.  Modern psychology is proving that the state of the body heavily influences the state of the mind.  We are not simply spiritual creatures, and we cannot leave the body behind in our reckonings with the soul. 

That's one of the reasons I like this exercise series.  The very push that lies behind all the exercises feels a lot of life in a mental and spiritual struggle.  The instructor and his professional fitness people in the background sweat and sway just as much as we do.  They push just as hard, and they get just as worn out.  "I'm right here with you," the instructor says.  "Now dig deeper."  And the fact of the matter is, yes, he is right there, doing what we are trying to do and feeling at least some of the pain that we are.  Exercise, in a weird way, takes faith: faith that what we are doing won't kill us and will give us what we're looking for in terms of a new body or better health.  That faith keeps us coming back to our routines. 

Do I really have to say that this is an excellent example of how we live the Christian life, with Christ sweating tears of agony in the garden, struggling to do exactly what we are called to do, but doing it and doing it perfectly?  And anyone who has felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit has also felt the call to dig deeper and pursue that perfect righteousness.    Sometimes the righteous life does feel like more than we can endure, but if we lock our minds into what the Holy Spirit is shouting in our ears and just keep pushing, pushing in prayer, resisting temptation, practicing the virtues until they feel natural (the stuff of lifetimes), then suddenly we come to a point where we see results, the workout is over, and we can breathe freely (and fall over). 

I saw an ad for the Insanity workout that said, "Are you insane enough for the Insanity workout?"  But at the same time, the workout advises us to know our limits and work at our own pace.  There are parts of the New Testament when Jesus seemed to be asking, "Are you insane enough for Christianity? Have you counted the cost?  Are you willing to lay it all down and die?"  But at the same time, He works through our difficulties with us and slowly brings us up to speed. 

So while I'm worrying about my body (because I am seriously hurting right now), I am also thinking about the soul.