“Physical training is good, but training for Godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”  1 Timothy 4:8

 

Reading that Scripture set me to pondering.  I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more like a toad I feel.  The metabolism is slower, the weight is harder to lose, and the chins.  Let’s not even talk about the chins.  Okay, let’s talk about them a little..I have this no-so-irrational fear that one day I’m going to sneeze and my chins are going to inflate like a big old bullfrog.  Children are afraid their eyes will pop out when they sneeze.  Not me. I’m afraid of the chin balloon.

Getting older stinks.  My knees make noises, my back aches, my stomach seemingly tries to devour itself with acid, gravity has a ridiculous hold on body parts unmentionable (this is a family oriented Blahg after all).  Folks, I can hear myself wrinkling.

You know, in your car or your home, when a thermostat stops working properly, you replace it, yes?  I’m fairly certain my thermostat has gone out in this traitorous old body of mine.  One minute I’m chilly…the next, my hair is on fire. What is the deal??  Where exactly is this faulty thermostat located, and where can I buy a new one?  Jiminy Cricket – why is there no middle ground here?! 

What, you ask, does any of that have to do with the scripture posted at the top of this page?  Everything, I tell you. Everything.  I don’t LIKE being a toad.  I don’t LIKE getting older and dealing with the aches and pains, weakness and fatigue, sags and wrinkles of an aging body. I LOATHE the hot flashes.  My husband might tell you I have mood swings on top of all of that….he MIGHT…if he weren’t afraid of me…

Yeah, getting older stinks, and if you’re anything like me, you’re finding it increasingly difficult to manage “physical training”, or at the very least, you’ve altered the way you train your body to accommodate new weaknesses and pains.  That’s okay.  Getting older is part of living; we gain wisdom as we gain mileage.  I’m okay (ish) with that. 

Exercising your body is necessary to good heart health, increasing energy, regulating mood, lowering cholesterol, and strengthening aging muscles, among other things, yes.  But, the benefit is limited to this life – such a short time, really.  As the Scripture above tells us, it is training in Godliness that will benefit us not only here in our daily lives, but also in eternity. It is this training in Godliness that reveals to us the mind and heart of God toward us.  It is this training that steadies the heart, gives peace to the mind, and encourages the spirit.  It is this training that floods us with joy, fills us with promise, and works through us with power.  It is this training that allows us to become conduits of the Grace, Mercy, and Love of God to the world around us.  Training…what a funny word to use for an act of Love….we “train”(spend time in His Word, spend time in His Presence) because we love vertically – we love God, we desire to know Him as much as He can possibly be known this side of eternity…and, conversely, we love horizontally because we “train” vertically…we love people, we desire that they come to know Him so we “train” in order to be ministers – ADministering the Kingdom of God to the world around us.  This is the training that is eternal. 

Getting older stinks.  That’s just truth.  But physical age and ability mean nothing in the Kingdom.  It’s all about the heart of His People – toward Him, toward others. We learn because we love; we love because we’ve learned – and we do it all because He first loved us.  It’s pretty simple, really.  My body may fail me, but my Lord never will.  Because of His Faithfulness, I desire to be faithful. And so I train myself in Godliness, desiring the benefits that it brings for myself – and for others. 

Speaking of hot flashes – they are of God, you know.  See Revelation 3:16….apparently, there’s not supposed to BE any middle ground. 

Dang it.