Don’t hate me … but I did not put on any pandemic weight.
OK. So those first two months when we were on complete lockdown and the gyms closed and I started binge watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show from the very beginning and my husband started making bread every day to show us how much he loved us, I did put on a few pounds. But when it became clear that this pesky pandemic thing wasn’t going to blow over and this was our “new normal” or whatever they kept telling us, I knew something needed to change.
I realized I needed to take a holistic approach to my health; my physical, mental and spiritual health were all intertwined. And let’s face it — I had a little more time on my hands. I decided to use it wisely. I put exercise back into my routine and I noticed that when I got sweaty and red-faced and my heartrate increased so high that I thought I might have a heart attack and I realized I needed to invest in one of those 1980s terry-cloth headbands, I felt stronger. Not just in my body, but in my spirit. I felt like I could handle stress that came my way. Instead of feeling like I was spinning plates, I felt like I was balancing them. And I lost the sourdough starter weight.
I thought about how St. Paul called our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit. When we take care of them, it is an act of worship. Paul said to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). Paul understood what today’s holistic experts say, that when you care for your body, you think more clearly. Your whole self is related.
I think of my exercise now as a time of worship. I stay strong so that I may be strong in mind and spirit. I’m no Eric Liddell, the runner portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire who said when he ran he felt God’s pleasure … yet! But I am closer than I was last summer. I know that when my body is healthy, I am handling stress in healthier ways and that my mind is sharper to hear and see the truth of Christ Jesus.
And when listening more closely to my body, mind and spirit, I have also learned when it is time to rest. To shut down the social media, to take the day off from exercise or my schedule or, frankly, a bit of work, and rest.
I remember years ago going to a weekend retreat. I felt guilty for not participating fully in the workshops. I just wanted to sleep. My professor told me to listen to my body and spirit. He reminded me that after Elijah fled Jezebel, he lay under a tree and slept. Perhaps this is what my body and spirit needed most, to rest in the peace of Jesus.
I’m taking better care of this body of mine. It is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives.
Northwest Catholic — July/August 2021