Monthly theme: Why Wellness?
Reading time: two minutes.
Who’s your fitness idol? I hope it’s not the muscle-bound gym freak or the wispy super-model.
How about Moses? Moses was a great example of the wellness in decline curve that God designed for us. Here’s what I mean…
You can’t fight the decline of aging through a fanatical obsession with thinness or muscle or mega-doses of vitamins.
But neither are we supposed to slide down a steady curve of continual decline, as if by the half-way point of your life-span you’re half dead.
We were designed to live strong and healthy throughout life until, under God’s providential care, He allows that injury or illness or disease that finally leads to our last breath and our entrance to eternal glory.
Like Moses, who in his final days, climbed a mountain (see Deuteronomy 32:1)!
There’s a myth about the decline of physical, emotional and mental health as we grow older. If you picture the x,y axis of age and vitality, most people assume that as years go by on the horizontal x line, your level of wellness on the y axis enters a steady decline after adolescence until you finally hit zero.
We tend to think of the curve starting to drop off pretty sharply with a straight-line slide into incapacity.
That’s just not true.
With appropriate self-care, and within the bounds of the limitations God has allowed us to endure, the curve looks more like a slow, gradual diminishment of capacity, with a sudden drop before the end of life.
Jesus wants you at your best. You have work to do.
At Grace Place Wellness we’re committed to helping you ensure longevity in ministry. That only comes about when you take care of yourself, welcoming God’s blessings of spiritual, physical, emotional and vocational wellness.
We need you, and we need you at your best.
If you haven’t yet, this time of year would be a great time to dig into our book, Reclaiming the Joy of Ministry, or for commissioned ministers, Reclaiming the Joy of a Church Vocation. It’s designed to help you reflect on the habits and practices of a healthy lifestyle, to pay attention to those forces at work that can drain you of the joy of ministry, and to begin to establish a plan for flourishing.
Like Moses. And like I’m working on (with a long way to go).
Maybe they’ll talk about you and me one day the way we talk about Moses.
Sparkle. And bounce. Good combination.
God bless your wellness journey.
Thanks for reading.
