Just Do It

The New York Times recently reported on a fitness study in Denmark. The general question asked was, “Can intense exercise be fun?” The researchers determined that a potential new approach to intense interval training “could appeal even to those of us who, until now, have been disinclined to push ourselves during exercise.” Not so sure about that.

Fun or not, Americans certainly spend a lot of time and money in their attempts to be physically fit. Unlike a generation or two ago, where the daily routines of hard work and outdoor play provided the necessary physical activity, gym memberships, Zumba classes, FitBit trackers, kindergarten soccer teams, and 5K runs attempt to create appealing opportunities for young and old. Add to that list the plethora of nutritional aids, diets, and cleanses, and we can agree that at least some of us put priority on forming our bodies in ways that invite health and wellness. We may not consider it to be fun, but do so in order to improve.

With considerably less hype, there are also people who consider the formation of their spiritual being to be of as much if not more importance to their personal well-being. Through many years of pastoral ministry, I’ve wrestled with this question: what can we do to care for our spirit? Most of us aren’t prepared to retreat to a monastery or hermitage for the next thirty years, or to live “enclosed,” in a room adjacent to the church as a young woman did in the 14^th century (whom we remember as Julian of Norwich). We have jobs and families, commitments on a daily basis that keep most of us from devoting large blocks of time to marathon training or the mystic’s withdrawal into the woods or desert.

There are definitely many less radical options available to those who desire to grow in the things of the spirit. We can begin through involvement in a church body, attending worship and participating in the life of the congregation. The Kroc Center’s labyrinth, on the southwest corner of the campus, provides a meditative path for spiritual seeking. Book discussions, such as one recently begun at Park Street Brethren Church, allow us to read spiritual literature together, currently Henri Nouwen’s “Return of the Prodigal Son.” And we are blessed as Ashland Theological Seminary often opens its doors wide to the community as with the October 2 and 3 visit of Shane Claiborne of “The Simple Way” to Ashland.

In 1995, several professors and students from the seminary began dreaming of a school of spiritual formation located outside its walls. From that dream, a two-year ‘school,’ Lifespring, was developed that practices a rhythm of retreat and rest on a monthly basis, inviting its participants to experience God joyfully and to serve others effectively. Lifespring is currently welcoming new participants to its next cohort of instruction and experience.

What is best? As in physical exercise, what’s best is the type of activity we are likely to actually do, rather than just plan for or think about (how much exercise equipment is gathering dust in your basement?) Some of us do best with an exercise or spiritual practice that is routine, becoming as regular a habit as brushing our teeth or walking the dog. For others, variety truly is the spice of life, and our best exercise of the body or the spirit is new every morning.

Carrie Bergman, who works with The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, created a visual tree of contemplative practices that begins with the roots of communion, connection and awareness. The tree expands into branches described as stillness, generative, creative, activist, relational, movement, and ritual/cyclical. While she makes note of about thirty leaves, there are hundreds of possible combinations of individual practices that can form a holy shade over us and around us.

Thoughtful spiritual formation can be as profoundly life-changing as regular exercise, yet whether for a healthy body, mind, and/or spirit, our own part of the equation is summed up in Nikes’ now iconic three words. “Just do it.” Your “it’ may look different than mine, but it is in the doing that we find health and wholeness – body and soul.