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What Scripture says about Exercise. Surprise: It’s Strangely Silent.

By Anita Mathias

Let's Run A Race - Birbhum, West Bengal


Image Credit
Running as fast as we can. Not because we are being chased by a hungry lion. Not to catch a train. Not to get anywhere. Just running.
Lifting pounds of iron, again and again. Not to build something. Not to stack shelves. Lift it up, bring it down, like Sisyphus.
Yoga. The dog pose, not to scrub floors, the tree pose, not to remove dust from cupboard tops. We imitate dogs running in a dream, but never getting anywhere. Doing all this because the three components of fitness are strength, flexibility and aerobic exercise.
How obscene all this must seem to abused domestic workers, to the hard pressed poor who end each day in shattered exhaustion.
·       * *
·        
On exercise, the Bible is strangely silent. Nowhere are we commanded to exercise. Paul says there is some value in it, but the value pales before godliness. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
I have known women who would work out, but not make time for prayer, or a Bible reading. If we are one of them, perhaps we have got our priorities wrong.
There is much about running in Paul’s letters, but it is, of course, metaphorical.
  * * *
Until the last 30-40 years, we heard little about exercise as a part of Christian discipleship. Now eating healthily and working out have been added to the definition of what a good Christian should do.
The law again, in yet another guise! And it insidiously adds extraneous things to the pure and simple love and devotion to Christ, which he himself commanded.
                                                            * * *
Why are commandments or exhortations to exercise strangely missing in Scripture? Partly because it was assumed that we would get all the exercise we needed in the course of our daily lives.
Planting, harvesting, shopping, cleaning, cooking, washing….
* * *
Life in the West has removed the physical labour from the tasks of producing food, washing dishes, washing clothes, sweeping houses, getting to stores. Even cleaning; one of the first things (sensible) women do when they can afford it is get a cleaner.
·       * *
·        
I go to the gym, and wonder if doing zumba to ear-splitting music, or lifting weights with TVs on, or swimming to music makes sense, when I could be getting my exercise digging or hoeing or cleaning. But I don’t clean, for the simple reason that if I were to take it on, it would get procrastinated until the task seemed impossible. If I pay someone else to, it gets done weekly. And gardening, well, that will not build up the fitness I need—or burn as much fat as I need to burn.
·       * * *
What a ridiculous result of affluenza–that our daily lives do not provide us enough activity to keep strong, and so we need to drive to gyms, or set off walking with no destination, or lift weights with no purpose, except to keep fit
·       * *
·        
I love the Benedictine ideal of ora et labora , work and prayer, a life finely balanced between the two imperatives of work and prayer. Manual work stabilized their personalities and kept them sane through the rigours of prayer, and study (another Benedictine imperative.)
My own ideal is to get 3 hours of mild physical activity a day to balance the prayer, scripture, reading and writing, and keep me sane and grounded, level-headed and not over-intense. To keep me on the right path, without wandering off on tangents. My goal is an hour of gardening, an hour of housework (which can include decluttering and finding the right places for things) and an hour of physical exercise. I can manage all three in the spring and summer, but it’s harder in winter, when I find myself more introspective, and more of a dormouse who loves to curl up with a book or laptop. Besides, it gets dark a full six hours earlier!!
But even if I did do all three, it would not be enough to keep me really strong.
* * *
I so wish I could find a Benedictine way of living, interspersing prayer, contemplation and writing with physical fitness through activity which serves some useful purpose.
All my adult life, I have longed to find a way to be fit and strong which would also serve some practical purpose. We are trying to grow our own vegetables, and have been largely successful, but would that make me strong? Gardening keeps you stronger and more flexible, but does it significantly increase fitness, not to mention burn stored body fat. Cleaning? Well, we use the cleaner’s visit as an inciting event to put everything back in the right place, and get rid of things we can see no use for. If I cleaned, I would not have that inciting event, and if I procrastinated it, the house would never be cleaned.
And an impressive fringe benefit of exercise is that it not only keeps me physically fit, but also improves my capacity for intellectual work, and my mental stability and acuity. It sets my emotions on an even keel, and significantly improves feelings of happiness. A healthy body was essential for healthy thought, as the Greek said, but I find it also helps with sane thinking and spiritual insights and breakthroughs.
I am still trying to see if I can find a way to be fit which is also economically productive, or does some good to myself, or anyone else. Open to suggestions.

But till then I will just have to exercise.

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Anita Mathias: About Me

Anita Mathias

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My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

Recent Posts

  •  On Not Wasting a Desert Experience
  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
  • On Yoga and Following Jesus
  • Silver and Gold Linings in the Storm Clouds of Coronavirus
  • Trust: A Message of Christmas
  • Life- Changing Journaling: A Gratitude Journal, and Habit-Tracker, with Food and Exercise Logs, Time Sheets, a Bullet Journal, Goal Sheets and a Planner
  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
  • “An Autobiography in Five Chapters” and Avoiding Habitual Holes  
  • Shining Faith in Action: Dirk Willems on the Ice
  • The Story of Dirk Willems: The Man who Died to Save His Enemy

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What I’m Reading

Childhood, Youth, Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy
Tove Ditlevsen

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Amazing Faith: The Authorized Biography of Bill Bright
Michael Richardson

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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King

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Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Kathleen Norris

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Andrew Marr


A History of the World
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Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96
Seamus Heaney


Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96 
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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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