Skip to main content

Rebalanced!

“Heading out to the Y to rebalance”.

I send that out by text, normally twice a week.  It’s code.

Well, it’s not like code words used in cloak and dagger stuff.  It is much more boring than that.  It’s a text I send to my wife two days a week when I leave from work and head to the YMCA to swim laps during my lunch break.  I want someone to know where I am going in case something happens.

The rebalance thing…

After nearly 30 years of swimming laps, swimming for me has mostly become a very mechanical thing.  That is, I don’t have to think much about what I am doing or concentrate on it.  I just swim back and forth. 

But more so, as I enter into this mechanical state of swimming, I’m able to use the time to think and pray.  I can turn something over and over in my mind and look at it from different angles, sometimes resulting in some level clarity or even a decision.

And while I wouldn’t want to try to build a case for the “spirituality of swimming”, I will say that I appreciate some of the words Jeremiah used when he wrote the following:  “For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear His word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened.”  (Jer 23:18).

As I swim back and forth alone with my thoughts, sometimes I enter into a time of meditating on portions of His word I’ve memorized, thus paying attention to it.

So whether I think or pray or I’m attentive to his word, I often feel rebalanced when I’m done swimming.

My text code to my wife when I get back to work is:  rebalanced!

  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...
1 comment
Read more

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Above My Pay Grade!

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...
Post a Comment
Read more