Be active. It’s good for you.

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “A season of celebration”

Our Bible verse for today: “Here I am today, eight-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 14:10-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be active. It’s good for you.”

One of the worst things that can happen to your body is to become sedate. The less you move the closer you are to being dead. It’s just a fact. The more active you remain the longer you are likely to stay healthy. Sadly, many people choose to be sedate. They choose the lifestyle of a couch potato, but that’s a prescription for poor health and early death.

We can choose to be active. Even as we age and even if we have limitations because of poor health, we can intentionally engage in as much activity as our body will tolerate. For more than ten years I lived in a community that consisted largely of retired senior citizens. I used to go to the community gym to exercise, and I was amazed to see so many older people swimming, lifting weights, doing aerobics, playing pickleball and tennis, walking on the walking track, and much more. No kidding, there were people pushing walkers around the walking track. Good for them! Today I live in a different community, and I go to a different gym out in town but even there, there are people of all ages and abilities exercising and taking care of themselves.

Even walking around your neighborhood is good exercise. I love to hike and walk. It was instilled in me by my mother at a very young age. She was a walker. She walked everywhere. She walked to get places (our family only had one car, and my father usually had it); but she also walked simply for the pleasure of enjoying the fresh air, seeing people, and getting exercise. We children walked with her and therefore, I’ve always been a walker too. I regularly go for long hikes on mountain trails, and I often go for an after-dinner walk too. I think it’s in my DNA.

All this month we’re devotionally considering the idea that celebrating is good for us. I’ve called our attention to all the many ways we celebrate big occasions, like Christmas and Easter and birthdays, but I’ve also made the point that we need to be attentive to celebrating the smaller, more routine things in life too like puppy dogs and ice cream and time with friends and family. Even a good walk is a time to smile, give thanks, and enjoy. If you can still move, then you should. If you are able to be active then rejoice in it and enjoy it!

I once read a great quote from the poet and writer Robert Lewis Stevenson. He was a hiker/walker/traveler. In fact, he spent most of his adult life traveling from one location to another and writing about it. He said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

Stevenson simply enjoyed being active because there’s great joy in it. Whether you’re traveling around the world or around the block, I encourage you to “go”. Move your body. Celebrate being active. It’s good for you.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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