When My Feet Hit the Pavement

I went for a run this morning.

That sentence still sounds strange each time I write or speak it. Before this summer, I never went for a run “just because.” (If you don’t believe me, ask my mom.) I saw exercise as a miserable activity, an activity that didn’t do anything but put my body in pain for a portion of the day. In middle school, surrounded by my friends and excited by the progress of learning new strokes and conquering different events, I probably enjoyed swim team. But at the end of the day, exercise was not something I loved or sought. Exercise was something I endured.

Over the last few years, particularly through playing floor hockey and Ultimate Frisbee with my friends, my attitude towards exercise has taken a 180. Not only have I delighted in the games I was playing, I have also experienced the community of a sports team and the reward of pushing my body to greater endurance. Besides, the endorphins were also a plus.

This summer, when I was restless and tired of being cooped up in a house or office for hours on end, I began to go out to the local cemetery to go running, usually a couple times a week. It wasn’t that I was particularly fond of running, but I noticed that I was a happier person after I would go for a run. My patience with others was greater; the quality of my sleep was better; focusing on my work was easier.

I began to understand that exercise is something that I need, whether I enjoy it at the moment or not. In striving to become the best version of myself, how can I exercise my mind and my soul and fail to exercise my body?

Living a healthy life involves all aspects of my spiritual and corporeal person.

Living a healthy life glorifies God, Who dwells within me.

St. Paul teaches this when he writes:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 

– 1 Cor 6:19-20

I'm a happier person when I go running. And I desire to glorify God not simply in my words, but also through my actions. That's why I went running this morning.

Still Growing...

Alright.  Now that the coolest, craziest, most blessed four months of my life (at least thus far) have drawn to an end, I thought I would get back to blogging before my summer job begins.  But be warned, the stories about my semester abroad have only just started.  

This past weekend I was blessed to go back to main campus and to see some of my household sister graduate from college.  (That's crazy!  They're old!  Glad that's not me!)  While I was there, an interesting thing happened: two different friends told me I looked older.  What?  It blew my mind because somehow, just by looking at me, they could see that I had grown while I was away in Europe.  I didn't look any different than when I left them in December, but they could tell that something was different.  And I didn't even have to tell them.

When I was thinking about this later, I realized that we talked about this very phenomenon in my Philosophy of the Human Person class last semester.  A person is made of a physical part (the body) and a spiritual part (the soul), and the only way that we are able to see the spiritual part of a person is through their body.  The soul is revealed in the body.  This weekend proved this truth to me.  My friends, just by looking at me, were able to tell that my soul had grown.  I know this idea might sound weird, but IT'S TRUE.

So there.