We are living in a time when “working out” has become a mantra for large segments of society. The rationale for doing so is diverse—from athletic training, to weight loss, to body sculpting, and beyond. While working out, many focus thought on the physical body—its dimensions, appearance, and how it feels—to ascertain the success of their efforts. And some don’t even enjoy it. My wife, who swims regularly for the joy of the activity itself, was in the locker room at a fitness center recently when someone confided that the best part of her workout was when she left the facility!
For many years I’ve found considerable blessings in another kind of workout—the spiritual workout. For me, it’s taken the form of an early morning walk along the shores of Lake Michigan, not so much for the sole enjoyment of the beauty of my surroundings, but to probe the meaning and ramifications of passages from that week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson. Why the Lesson? Because, as Mary Baker Eddy states in the Church Manual, it is “… a lesson on which the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends” (p. 31).
On many days, I work with only a single passage from the Bible or Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, opening my thought to related ideas that come from pondering a passage word by word, allowing related ideas to surface, which might not otherwise occur when I am reading the Lesson in its entirety. In obedience to Mrs. Eddy’s counsel to pray daily for oneself (see Manual, p. 40), I often begin my walk by facing down the various challenges I might be experiencing. With a commitment to doing this work, the process of walking along the lake—despite being in the presence of runners, dog walkers, cyclists, and other walkers—is not a distraction. As I walk, I love to identify with scriptural passages in Genesis of both Enoch and Noah, who “walked with God” (Genesis 5:22 and 6:9).
