Ellen DeGeneres said this:

I really don’t think I need buns of steel. I’d be happy with buns of cinnamon.

I used to swing desperately between craving buns of steel and craving buns of cinnamon.

Usually the cinnamon buns won.

Photo credit: LeoSynapse

I’d like to think that this year I’ve come to some sort of middle ground. I don’t want buns of steel for the sake of having them and the sense of achievement that it would inevitably provide. Nor do I want to be a slave to sugar any longer. Jumping for a fix any time I thought that it needed it, and killing my body slowly. Controlled by it.

I have come to believe that unless I am as healthy as I can possibly be (given my current circumstances) I am not fulfilling my spiritual purpose to the best of my ability. By giving in to sugar cravings and sitting on my butt instead of moving it, I am allowing immediate personal gratification have a negative effect on my kingdom impact.

This includes how I fuel my body, how I move my body, and how I rest my body all in balance. For me, it’s a stewardship issue. God gave me something. I have to look after it, invest in it, make sure He gets a return on investment.

I have also discovered this year that what I choose to eat has a very distinct and noticeable affect on my body function and my mental state. I now know that I can use exercise to regulate mood swings and disperse the dark clouds that inevitably come.

If I eat poorly (refined foods) and fail to move my body (to keep it healthy and remove toxins), if I refuse to take time to rest and recuperate because I garner my value from people praising my busyness, I am sabotaging myself and my ministry. I am setting up convenient barriers that I can use to hide behind and as an excuse not to fulfil my purpose in life.

It’s just easier that way.

In the short term.

In the long term it would kill me.

It would make my life miserable — filled with stress and a laundry list of completely unnecessary ailments. It might prevent me from meeting my grandchildren. It might prevent me from growing old with my husband. It would definitely rob me of the energy required to pour my life into other people. It would shrink my world and reinforce the focus on myself that got me into that predicament in the first place.

My physical self is not disconnected from spiritual self, they are part of the same whole…and like it or not the world judges our spiritual discipline by our physical discipline too. They think perhaps that this God we worship isn’t too great if we can’t even be bother obeying the command to view our body as a temple, to honour God. (it’s amazing how much of the bible these people actually know) And they move on.

I believe very strongly that thinking about the physical body cannot and should not be separated from the spiritual aspects of life — the soul, the mind, the spirit — the Stoics believed the body was bad…that’s not what God said. He created man (generic term) and said that it was VERY GOOD … there was no qualification on that statement. But still that type of thinking persists in the church…that the body is bad and sinful and should be separated and ignored. I don’t think that’s a biblical approach.

Looking forward and maintaining this momentum, I want to give my physical vehicle the best opportunity to thrive, and  I still have a lot of temple renovation work to do after neglecting and abusing it for years. It’s hard work, but I’m learning. Continually learning. Continually adjusting.

My sabbatical has taught me that maintaining physical health (within our inherited limitations) is as much a spiritual discipline as prayer.

What do you think?

Related posts:

1. Bike-fu FAIL – 8 things I learned tonight
2. Fit Friday // End of year update
3. Mental Health Day #1 — Southern Highlands
4. Happy New Year!
5. Clouds clearing – sabbatical thoughts on mental health

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