Sanctuary

As we enter a new year, we gain the gift of a new season - a chance to ask new questions.

Can the gym be sanctuary? A place of refuge? How is workout worship?

Each new year I choose a word. A focus word. A word to watch for. A word to carry me into the future. Last year my word was training. Training my body to stay fit, training others to get fit, and training my mind and spirit.

This year my word is peace.

Our world is crazy, nonsensical, and seems to be spinning out of control. I chose peace to remind me Who is in control. It’s not the kind of peace the world offers - a counterfeit peace…a peace that is fleeting. Instead, I choose to seek a peace that comes through a relationship with The Living God. A peace that brings safety, a refuge in times of trouble, a sanctuary.

How are you going to seek peace in 2022?

Our hurried lives have most of us stacking our schedules with endless tasks added to non-negotiable commitments. We feel pulled in many directions, and yet, we know (like me) the care of our physical bodies is crucial. So the pressure builds and we hear our own voices:

“I need to workout more.”

“I want to get stronger.”

“I should lose this extra weight…”

For most of us, the idea of a gym sounds more like a dentist appointment than a sanctuary. How can we readjust our perspectives?

Working out is part of my life - a daily habit, like brushing my teeth. If I don’t move my body significantly after 3 days - I ache, become sore, and begin to hurt deep within. I suspect this is due to my rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, I’m in the gym, working my body, 5-8 hours each week. And for a busy mom…for anyone…that’s a lot of time. The question then becomes one of intentionality…how can I spend this time seeking peace? How can these 5-8 hours become sacred?

Workout…”a practice to improve one’s fitness.”

Worship … “an expression of reverence and adoration.”

What if we practiced a new posture? A new expression?

What if my workouts began by recognizing the Creator of my physical body, the Source of all energy and strength. I am worshiping the Brilliant One that uses these very movements to bring healing to my aching joints. It’s upside-down! I move to heal. I strain and stretch to grow. I push through pain for a purpose. Isn’t that just like our God?

My mind now drifts to thankfulness. What if I use my 5-8 hours of gym time to worship the Source, the giver of all good gifts. I count my blessings.

1. Relationships I have formed at the gym, mutually encouraging - I thank God for meaningful fellowship, the opposite of isolation.

2. Gaining knowledge of equipment, proper form and technique builds a confidence in me that destroys fear and combats lies.

3. Sculpted muscles have been hard fought for and God be praised these babies are mine - Now I’m poised for action in the face of life’s challenges!

4. I thank God for the extra energy gained through every endorphin released, leaving me feeling uplifted rather than sluggish and depressed. The list goes on and on…

I’m reminded of the Word. Proverbs 31:17 reads, “She is energetic and strong, a hard worker.”

May I be that woman! The motive of my heart is to honor God with the whole of me - Body, Mind, Spirit.

I’ve completed my warm-up. It’s time to pop those earbuds in, but instead of podcasts, audiobooks, the news… I choose worship music. I let my body do the physical while filling up my spirit with words and melodies of PRAISE!

Do you see the sacred? Can this be a place of sanctuary?

But what about the pain?

As fatigue sets in, I wipe drops of sweat off my brow and wonder…perhaps the gym can also be an altar, a threshing floor - a place to sort the pain of life.

I’ve noticed the times I’m battling a life issue such as: parenting a pre-teen, an upcoming deployment for my spouse, or balancing the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis with a busy lifestyle; the gym has literally become my safe space. A refuge in times of trouble.

Sanctuary … “a place of refuge or safety.”

It’s the sacred place I come to physically push my body to the end of itself, a place to lay it all at the altar, Christ’s feet. Only then can I get out of my head, face the overwhelming obstacle at hand and step into the awareness of God’s presence. I seek wisdom. I ask for strength. I trust.

Because He’s in me - in the pain, and I in Him.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” - 1 Corinthians 6:20

This is my surrender. An emptying of my way, in order to be filled with His way of moving forward. The gym is one of the only places in this modern world where I experience my physical limitations…a practice that brings me to the end of myself and ushers me into God’s presence. That kind of trust leads to peace. I honor the One who lives in me.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”

- Isaiah 55:8.

This truth comes alive in the gym. At the threshing floor.

Imagine this…I am pulling the lat pulldown bar towards me. It is heavy. I am tired. I whisper to myself, “Chris, you got this.” But it is hard I tell myself just like the upcoming deployment. How am I going to parent 3 active boys, hold down my business, and the list goes on. I release the heavy weight and my back thanks me. Just then my earbuds chime in, “there is another in the fire standing next to me.” And I am reminded I am not alone and His Grace and Presence will be with me during the deployment and the days leading up to it. The physical pain of lifting weights reminds me of the hard things in life I cannot control. So, brokenness enters in. And the Savior is close behind.

It’s time now to cool down.

I can relax now…knowing that I have been given the strength to do the hard work of my heart and of the physical. I enjoy the accomplishment. The Creator beckons me to rest in Him. I have peace…His peace becomes my practice.

Do you see sanctuary?

A workout worship?

As 2022 ramps up in all its hopes and unknowns, I challenge you to choose a Word and let the Living Word fill up your mind and spirit with the awareness that He lives in you.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to god - this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1

Words are inspired by Christina Schmit, Certified Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach.

Written by Callista Grover.