An interesting thing happened. When I focused on becoming physically fit, it lead me to becoming spiritually fit. These three simple exercises will help you become and keep spiritually fit too. (If you stay to the end, there’s a fun video where our new dog, Loki, joined in our workout with puppy push-ups, well, sort of.)

A year after I met Robert, I decided to work out with a personal trainer. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a tomboy, but I was always into sports and had no interest in playing with dolls as a little girl.

Robert was a marathon runner and cyclist. I’d walk my dog for 4-6 miles at a time, but that was the extent of my physical activity.

The first time we road bikes on one of our city’s popular bike trails, I was exhausted!  Peddling up and down hills was much more taxing than walking!

A friend introduced me to trainer, Rik Wilson. He was a former St. Louis Blues hockey player. (I love hockey too.) Rik was the perfect trainer for me.

I wanted to build strength and muscles. So, twice a week for an hour each time, I went to the gym and put in the training to get stronger.

I felt better. I stood taller. But it wasn’t until my strength was put to the test that I saw the results from my work outs.  

The bike rides were no longer exhausting. I could walk up and down steps without huffing and puffing. When my mother couldn’t walk after a fourth fall, I was able to carry her with Robert out to the car to get her to the doctor. (She was not light.)

It made me think of how the time we spend with God in prayer, meditation, and feeding our minds with good spiritual food like Scripture and other inspirational material that we build spiritual muscles, too. When we are faced with a crisis, challenge, or setback, those spiritual muscles rise to the occasion to give us strength to keep on keeping on.

How Do You Become and Stay Spiritually Fit? Here are 3 Core Exercises

These are three core exercises to integrate into your life: 1) rejoice always, 2) pray without ceasing, 3) give thanks in all circumstances.

I love the word integrate because it means to combine one thing with another so it becomes a whole. 

Exercise 1: Rejoice always It means to be mindful of the hand of God in everything and to be certain of God’s faithfulness. It is the exercise that makes it possible to experience joy when things are good and in times of suffering. That’s because we are not alone. We have the conviction that God will see us through.

Exercise 2: Pray without ceasing That doesn’t mean continuous, uninterrupted prayer, but inviting God into all the details of your life.

Exercise 3: Give thanks in all circumstances It’s adopting an attitude of gratitude. You can’t be anxious, fearful, or bitter when you are grateful.

When you integrate these spiritual exercises into your daily routine, you will be spiritually fit and ready to take on whatever comes your way.

Resources to Help Keep Spiritually Fit and a Little Fun

Need some equipment to help? Just like the gym has weights and machines to assist in your physical fitness, you’ll find books, meditations, journaling guidance, and spiritual direction to build and maintain your spiritual fitness.

A little fun… Since Robert was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, we now work out together to incorporate boxing to help him. With COVID, the workouts were conducted over Zoom. We’ve adopted a new dog, Loki. I was concerned how he would react to our working out. As you can see, my concerns were abated!