Shaping Up

I'm down about 5 lbs. and about 10 minutes in the last two weeks I've been riding my bike to work. Couple quick thoughts:

• Progress, not perfection, is the goal. I get discouraged easily. Discouragement is all about unmet expectations. If I expect to be LeMond right away, I'll give up quickly. But if I make improvement my goal, I'll feel successful more often. I think that's what Paul is saying when he encourages "each one [to] examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another" (Galatians 6:4). In other words, if I compare myself to other people (who seem perfect), I'll get discouraged and quit. But if I compare myself today to where I was last week or last year, then I'll be stoked on how far I've come!
  
• Everything is spiritual. As I wrote on Tuesday, I tend to think that some things are more spiritual or important than others. But that attitude is untrue and unhelpful. Like many Christians, I'm actually fighting an interior battle with a modern version of the ancient Manichaen heresy, which taught that our bodies (and all physical stuff) are evil and our spirit / soul was good. But that's not what the Bible teaches! Our physical bodies are actually part of Christ's body (1 Cor. 6:15) and are the pinnacle of the entire creation God declared as "good" (Gen. 1:31). One of the main reasons Jesus came in the flesh was to show us how to live a completely spiritual life while still in a mortal body (1 John 1:1-4). So while physical exercise alone is only of "little profit," if I'm truly growing in God, then I'll end up benefiting in "all things" (including my physical shape) (1 Tim. 4:8).

OK... maybe that wasn't just a "quick" thought. All that to say... I'm really enjoying riding my new bike. :)