Zombie in Training

Hello, dear ones,

It has been several weeks since my last post here.  After going on vacation at the end of July, my mind and spirit remained in the zone of relaxation, and my creative juices have been focused mostly on kinesthetic activities.  The computer has sat mostly unused save for a few minutes to check e-mail and see how my friends are doing via social media sites.  

Crocheting has been the focus of many of my evening hours of late.  I have three friends who are expecting, and their status has prompted me to pick up the hooks and yarn after months of hiatus.  I've made several blankets over the years, but never attempted anything more intricate.  In the last month, I've learned to create hats of all sizes, circular blankets from a pattern and even made my first bootie, though I have decided I need some smaller hooks and a more delicate yarn for that final project in the future.

During the days that I haven't been working, I've been taking advantage of the sunshine that, here in the pacific northwest, (especially the Seattle area) we receive in rather small doses throughout the year. After realizing how zombie-like I had become during the school year, and seeing the effects of my neglected physical body, strengthening and tending to my body has taken a high priority in the last month.  For a year and a half I've been walking with my neighbor a couple of times per week, but lately running, dancing, tai chi and, more recently, rollerblading and weight lifting have become more and more appealing.

I ran-walked in the Portland Marathon several years in a row after moving to the Seattle area, and raised money for Emmanuel Children's Hospital in memory of a child that I nannied who had died from complications of a heart defect.  After our team dispersed and I had no particular cause to run for though, I lost the drive to continue training in the off season.  School became an excuse that kept me away from physical activity, and the dreariness from the clouds swept any lingering desire to get away from the computer and books.

Lately however, things have been changing.  Over the summer I've began to vary my work out routines, find partners to encourage my progress, and have read several books on running and cross training.  The combination has been helping me to become more focused and dedicated in taking care of my body.  In short, this zombie student is beginning to remember what life can be like when there is good balance and flow of energy.

I do hope to be stimulated to write more often, and am looking forward to classes starting back up next week.  This time, however, I will not neglect my physical health in order to attain good grades.  I am a zombie in training, remembering how to live. 

Jesus said that he came so that we might have life to the fullest measure, and in God we live and move and have our being.  I pray that this will continue to be a year of growth and remembering who I am and who I was created to become.  Now beginning my third year in seminary, I am striving to engage the whole person, not just the mind, in the absorption and and expression of Christ.

As the apostle Paul has said, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  While he was writing about the older covenant that was being used to shackle new believers with unhealthy burdens, for the seminary student these words can hold a new meaning.  Sometimes we become too wrapped up in studying the nuances of each Greek verb and analyzing the text that we neglect the equally important task of allowing our hearts (and bodies) to be changed and blessed by the freedom found through Jesus the Christ.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will breathe into each of us as we once again come to the texts that are often familiar, and that She, our Lady Wisdom, will bring fullness of life as Christ has promised.  I am the theological zombie student in training for the marathon of eternal life.