Today I turn 52. Now before you get all congratulatory let me explain I have not been heading into the 50’s with a great sense of excitement. Life is changing and this body has not been headed in a glorious direction. When you hit the big 5-0 you realize there is a whole other world you knew nothing about. The world of doctors, colonoscopies, arthritis, receding hairlines, disappearing hairlines, foods suddenly appearing on a ‘no-eat’ list, and no longer being able to do things you did at 30, at least not as fast or for as long. Who said birthdays were happy?

Reading through Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, two verses jumped off the page and spoke to my ‘getting older’ mindset. He told the Corinthians in his first letter (chapter 9, verses 26-27) “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave…”

So , I have decided to not sit idly by. Challenged by an ‘old’ friend, I began running. And not just a couple days a week, running everyday, at least 1 mile. Today was my Running Streak Day 138, 3.6 miles and makes my streak total of 426 miles. I didn’t even dream of doing that when I was 30! Not only that but I averaged 9:04 minutes a mile. When I started this in March I was averaging about 10:30 a mile. My resting heart rate has dropped to my college days. I have lost 12 pounds (and counting) and my doctor says “medically speaking, I am extraordinarily boring.”

Paul mentioned something else about getting older in his second letter to those same Corinthians. Chapter 4, verse 16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  While this body, Paul calls it a jar of clay, is getting older and running down, my spirit, my soul, that part of me that has the ability to connect with God has the ability to grow stronger every day.

I have determined to not sit idly by on this one either. The discipline of running, has enhanced my physical health, how much more will the daily disciplines of connecting with God whether through worship, prayer, Scripture, or the challenge of others enhance my spiritual health. Or the weekly disciplines of corporate worship, participating in a small group, or serving others in my community. Is not my spiritual more important than my physical?

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

You know what this is a Happy Birthday, #52! And everyday can be a day of joy. Fresh with opportunities to meet new physical challenges and stretch spiritually in ways we never imagined.

Get out there and start a new streak, physical and spiritual!