Okay, so I tricked you a little with the title. This isn’t a post about sex. But be patient, that post is coming soon. This post is about how our physical state impacts our marriage.
When it comes to marriage, people like me encourage people to be selfless. Why? Because selflessness is good, right? Yes and no. I see so many people give and give and give to their spouse and kids. They work hard to provide. They taxi kids around everywhere, every day. They take care of the home and everything in it. They get up early and go to bed late. They are selfless. But some of the people we consider to be the most selfless are actually . . . hold on . . . I don’t like this word either, but . . . selfish. Yes, they work hard and take care of everybody but themselves; that’s the selfish part.
When we leave no time for ourselves—specifically when we don’t eat right, exercise, or get enough sleep—we may look like heroes in the short term, but long term we’re being selfish. When we don’t take care of ourselves, we are potentially robbing those we love of years with us on this earth. But just as tragic, we are robbing them of the best version of ourselves in the present.
Now, here’s the real heavy hand, we are also robbing God of the best version of ourselves. He says He wants us to love Him with our heart, soul, BODY, and mind. Somehow as Christians, we have been made to think it’s okay to skip the BODY part. No, we can’t control everything about our health. Even with our best efforts, we can get sick. My aunt, who exercised her whole life died at 49 from an infection she got in the hospital. One day, we all will die. But we can control our eating, exercise and sleep.
While I’m not perfect in this area, I do pretty darn well. But that wasn’t always the case. I didn’t start taking care of myself until my last year of college. I needed an A in a class so I took a 1:00 p.m. aerobics class. The class met in the gym and was led by a 55-year-old man. He made Richard Simmons look lethargic. He immediately kicked my butt. Despite the fact I was clumsy and felt like a goof ball doing aerobics in a class attended mostly by girls, it wasn’t long before I felt better than I had ever felt in my life. I didn’t realize how bad I felt until I felt good.
While I haven’t been perfect, I’ve exercised consistently ever since. I graduated college in 1992, so you do the math. I’m not trying to say “Look at me.” In fact, I’m up about four pounds from my holiday eating. I’m also not trying to take you on a guilt trip. It’s just that I’m up for anything that helps your marriage, and there is perhaps nothing more important to your marriage than giving your spouse a healthy you. So, are you up for a challenge? If so, I want to challenge you to a 30-day challenge:
1) Get 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week.
2) Change one meal of the day.
3) Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
At the end of 30 days, I bet you will find both your mood and your energy level better and more consistent.
So are you with me? If so, comment below with, “Ted, I’m with you!”
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