The local paper runs a column interviewing a man and woman about their fitness regime. While the individuals are usually young, interviews have included those as young as eight and as well as those beyond their sixties. It is an interesting piece that is designed to encourage fitness. It seems to start with a bias – the title is “Hot Bods”.
After reading the columns over several months, I am struck by the bias within me. I naturally presume that fitness is primarily the occupation of those younger than I am. I know there are individuals actively exercising and training into their eighties. I have many friends that work out, attend fitness classes, and cycle on a regular basis. While I know this, it is easy to think that their efforts are the exception, not the norm.
Hot Bods reminds me that there is a natural bias of who is strong and weak. When I was young, I thought style, fitness, and strength were the exclusive property of those in my generation. Now that I am well into my fifth decade, I still think there are individuals in my generation that are on the cutting edge of style, fitness and strength. In my young, I also thought that if one was compassionate one was weak. The strong emerged from those who were focused on justice and accountability.
As I reflect on a writer’s observation about God, I can see that he is breaking the myth I carry with me down at its core. We may thing God is weak, but the truth is something quite different. “Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he’s amused at their presumption; then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up: ‘Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit.’” (Psalm 2.4-6)
As I read the story of someone a little bit older than me coming back from devastating challenges, I realize everyone has a chance for a fresh start. It comes with the dawn. Welcome to freedom.
