Spiritual Fitness is Fitness

Spiritual Fitness is Fitness

Lately I’ve been fascinated by how interconnected our body, mind, and spirit are. I kind of always viewed them as separate categories, all important but all distinct. I am starting to see how porous the boundaries really are.

I notice it in myself first. In my last post, I wrote about selfcare and my struggles and my need to address it head on. I am trying to get back into shape, take nutrient serious, overcome sleep issues, and learn how to better quiet my mind. During my lack of selfcare, my spirit health was always important. Plus, it is not like I stopped physical activity in its entirety, or did not sleep, or only ate junk. I was though, not explicitly training in a way that each of those things deserves. I did not think that it had an impact on my spiritual life, but now that I am addressing those issues, I am now seeing the connection. Nothing stays in its lane.

There’s something humbling about recognizing that my spiritual life is not just shaped by prayer and scripture reading. Even if I feel like all my actions are for the glory of God, I realized I was overlooking some small things that are necessary to my spiritual life. It’s also shaped by how well I’m hydrated, how hard I worked out, pausing long enough to recognize my feelings, and by a good night sleep. My physical choices flood into my emotional landscape, eventually getting deep enough to reach my mind. Eventually, the flood is biggest enough to reach my spirit.

It made me wonder how often I, try to offer presence from a place of imbalance. How much better I could have handled a situation if I had taken better care of my holistic fitness. When I pay attention to all three portions, body, mind, and spirit, I feel more available to others. More ready to care. More anchored in God. More capable of holding space without getting swept away. Like the house on the rock described in Matthew 7.

I terms of functional fitness, peak performance is not all about strength, it’s about balance. I think that balance includes taking care of your spirit with prayer and scripture leading to purpose. It also includes physical fitness, sleep, nutrition, and hydration. It also includes growing your mind with new ideas, reading, intentional quiet time to let all the thoughts settle in. A way of living where the body, mind, and spirit are all integrated and aligned.

I’m still learning what that looks like for me but I can feel the difference with them all inching back towards being in rhythm.