麻豆社

Good Morning,

I鈥檓 seven minutes into a run on the treadmill. Pulse 95, pace 10 kph, calories burned 100. The knee hurts and I鈥檓 feeling the burn, but hey, no pain no gain, as someone said. (I make a mental note to check who later). After ten minutes, a message sounds over the gym鈥檚 tannoy: 鈥楧on鈥檛 Just Live, Live Happily Ever Active.鈥� The copywriter who came up with that line must be pretty pleased. It is meaningless but effective.

As I run on, I find myself thinking about this strapline, which is a mistake. Because thinking and exercising don鈥檛 mix well. But when you analyse it, 鈥楲ive happily ever active鈥� makes no sense. It takes no account of entropy. Crumbling knees and thickening arteries. It doesn鈥檛 factor in other human needs, like being inactive, doing nothing. What about just being? There is more to life than being fit, yes?

My friend doesn鈥檛 like exercise. He often quotes St Paul鈥檚 line: 鈥榩hysical exercise is of some value, but spiritual exercise has value for all things.鈥� Right now, I agree with him. It鈥檚 hard work staying fit. And the older you get the harder you have to work at it. I exercise twice as much now as I did in my 20鈥檚. But what of my spiritual exercises? Am I paying them the same attention? With all this physical effort am I ignoring the other bit of me 鈥� my soul? Could it be that I value my core more than my core values?

Later, back on the sofa, pulse 60, pace 0, calories added 100, I find I can think a little more clearly. I feel calmer. Perhaps this is the gain after the pain. (It was Jane Fonda who monetised that line in the 1980鈥檚, although Sophocles did say 鈥榥othing succeeds without pain鈥�). The book of Hebrews puts it well: 鈥渇or the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knee.鈥�

Some have tried to create a false dichotomy between the physical and spiritual; but the Bible keeps synthesising them, treating them as part of a whole: it tells us that our bodies are temples, in which God鈥檚 spirit resides; a Psalm says we are fearfully and wonderfully made; a saint writes that we must run the race and train as though we might win it.

There seems little question this God wants us to be healthy and fit. The question is - fit for what? Not just for ourselves, for our vanity, our personal bests, or even for a long life; but fit for the sake of others; for the best in other people. I think this God wants us fit for a purpose. But the purpose is not just to live; but to live life to the full.

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