Fully Present

Spiritual Exercise: Mindfulness (wk. 9/13)

Reading: Luke 24:13-35

6:30 am or 6:30 pm?

When is your best workout time? I can’t decide what time works best for me

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6:30 am

It is always a good way for me to start my day by being in the gym for an hour. But, if I’m going to be honest, there are at least two challenges with working out before the day starts.

My first challenge has to do with an aging body that is slow to warm up. I can’t easily work as hard or lift as heavy first thing in the morning compared to later in the day. One of my lifting buddies captured it succinctly: “I give up 30 lbs. on my bench press if I try to lift early in the morning.”

But the other – and maybe larger – issue for me when I work-out early in the morning is the “Daily ToDo” list running through my brain as I try to focus on the weight sets in front of me. I have a hard time being fully present for the workout because I’m thinking about all the things I need to get done in the day ahead.

6:30 pm

And so I typically head to the gym at the end of the day. There are still some challenges, but if I haven’t had a physically taxing day between 8 and 5, I’m stronger in the pm than in the am. In the evening, the CrossFit box where I’m a member is typically not as crowded with the daytime members, and my mind is not as crowded with my daily events. Therefore, perhaps most importantly for me, I’m able to be more fully present with the workout, thinking about the exercises in front of me instead of the activities behind me.

When are you most mindful?

This whole idea of being fully present – “mindfulness” is what the current social media influencers call it – is actually a very old concept. Close to 3,000 years ago, the Jewish king David appointed a group of professional musicians to write worship music to honor the Lord. One of their most famous songs shared this refrain, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Mindfulness is a concept that is at least three millennium old

Whether it’s in the gym or in a conversation, distraction robs us of the depth that only presence can bring. In the final chapter of the gospel of Luke, the newly-resurrected Jesus demonstrated this on the road to Emmaus when he walked with confused disciples for seven miles, opening the Scriptures along the way, and helping them see what had been before them all along. He didn’t rush. He stayed with them in their moment. Likewise, mindfulness calls us to slow down and notice—not just what we’re doing, but who we’re becoming.

Questions for Reflection:

When am I most fully present during my day?

What keeps me from practicing mindfulness more consistently?

How might being present open me to deeper connection—with God, others, and myself?