Exercise Is Bad For Your Health

{Written July 4, 2010}
I can now begin to empathize with sufferers of chronic lung conditions. Simply trudging up a small hill sends my heart off to the races and renders effortless speech impossible. Fortunately, my body began acclimatizing to 9300 feet the moment I touched down in Quito, and visions of mountain biking and running this weekend dance in my head. But for now—and I never thought I’d say this—exercise is bad for my health.

At this moment, I am perfectly content to lounge here in my newest bedroom and organize my life, mentally and materially. But the fact that exercise can hurt and even kill us sets me to wondering: how often do we have too much of a good thing? We all seek for balance in our lives, but what are the facts we don’t know, the realities we can’t see, the symptoms we miss or ignore?

I read an article the other day that suggested that married couples should have a yearly “marriage check-up” to head off the small problems before they turn into mushroom clouds. Though that idea probably won’t work for every couple, it would bring a good third perspective into dynamics that may need some tweaking. My relationships surely do: every one of them is tainted by my desire to get something out of the other person, rather than to show them grace and kindness. Perhaps it’s time for you and me, dear reader, to sit or kneel down tonight and contemplate and repent for the way we use others for our own ends—and ask God for the pure mind and the burning heart we need to make it better.