I am close to becoming someone who pays for gym membership and wastes it by not going enough times to work out. But this weekend, I am determined to reverse that trend. I exercise at home mostly and walk on treadmill or go for a walk. But I have activated my gym membership after the pandemic to use the pool.
I love the water. I am admittedly scared to be in the water too long in the ocean. But I feel safe and at peace in the pool. Swimming feels so so great. It’s hard to capture what it feels like. I feel at peace. I feel a sense of serenity. I feel a sense of calmness. Do I feel a sense of calmness recalling what it felt like in my mother’s womb? I don’t know. Sensing the water and floating in the water makes me feel safe. And even my aching and sore shoulder that limits my mobility feels uninhibited in the range of motion in the pool.
For sure, this morning, I will try to go swimming after swimming 30 minutes yesterday afternoon. I am thinking about swimming and how alive it makes me feel in relation to the season of Advent in the Christian Calendar. We are preparing the way to celebrate the birth Baby Jesus on Christmas Day, which this year falls on a Sunday. Advent, the waiting time, is a strange period of waiting and celebrating if only in anticipation for Christ’s coming. I am thankful that I know Jesus. I am Thankful God loved me first, loved us first, while we were sinners. And as for my gym membership? It’s a gift, a blessing, and a privilege. Like many things we are privileged to have the opportunity to pursue, let us seize the opportunity and make gifts we are given count for something good, for ourselves, and for others, for the world.
Shalom
revalicekim 