Strict Training- A Prize for the Ages Awaits!

by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College

I am reading Elisabeth Elliot’s “Discipline, The Glad Surrender” (1982) this week, and came across a most wonderful quote about athletics’ contribution to life which Elliot attributes to Pope John Paul (p. 53):

“Every type of sport carries within itself a rich patrimony of values, which must be always kept present in order to be realized.  The training in reflection, the proper commitment of one’s own energies, the education of will, the control of sensitivity, the methodical preparation, perseverance, resistance, the endurance of fatigue and wounds, the domination of one’s own faculties, the sense of joy, acceptance of rules, the spirit of renunciation and solidarity, loyalty to commitment, generosity toward the winners, serenity in defeat, patience towards all - these are a complex of moral realities which demand a true aceticism and validly contribute to forming the human being and the Christian.”

I shared this with my Exercise Physiology class this morning as we began to sum up the physiological adaptations to endurance and resistance training, tying it in to 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 (Everyone who competes goes into strict training).  We talked a bit about the value of training, of being trained, of assuming a lifelong commitment to growth through training, and how it enhances our performance as God’s agents of renewal in the church and society.  Not surprisingly, students are not fond of the modifier, “strict” that Paul places in front of the word training!

We are not disqualified from the prize when we fix our eyes on Jesus- the author, the perfector, the starting line and the finish tape, the coach and the fan- Jesus gets us started, keeps us running, qualifies us for the prize, and meets us at the finish line with arms outstretched. 

I’d write more, but it’s training time.  Blessings!

A New and Committed Pilgrimage

by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College

Unlike the animals, our upright walk frees our hands.  Think of all the work your hands have done!  Think of all the work God still has for your hands to accomplish!  Think of all the times you folded those hands in prayer, or used them to wipe away tears! Now think about your feet– all the places they’ve been, how they’ve held you up all these years, all the times they’ve ached to sit, or itched to get out and walk. 

What if you could combine your need for fresh air, for exercise in God’s creation with the folding of your hands for prayer and fellowship with God?  What if I told you an easy secret for doing both every day?  Would you believe it?  Walking (exercise) and prayer are disciplines.  They take discipline, and they create discipline.  As godly women, we ache to be better– to be more fit, to eat healthier, to lose weight, to be more consistent in our prayer life, to read our Bibles with hunger and thirst for wisdom, and to spend time– that precious commodity– alone with God.

Ah, time!  You will tell me you don’t have any time, that’s why your disciplines are so out of whack as it is. But you do have time– time to get to bed earlier, and get up earlier in the mornings.  “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”  Mark 1:35
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