A part of the world: togetherness

I’m at the gym. The place is crowded. Today more than it has been in weeks. There are various classes in session, each with their own music blasting. Right now I can count three different genres of music, each conflicting with the other. Latin hip-hop. Speed metal. And top 40 pop dance.


The noise is unwelcoming. And it’s so loud my headphones cannot keep it out or stop it from annoying me. Needless to say I am getting frustrated. And I have to find a way to deal with it.


Confession:
There are times I don’t want to share space with people. I know that’s not the kindest thing I could say. I also know it flies in the face of everything I believe in or write about in this blog. So instead of closing my eyes and wishing everyone to disappear. I take the cake I was given and try to find a way to enjoy it.


Resolution:
I try to make a song out of all the songs. A workout mashup of sorts. Then I look at all the people squatting and lifting and moving up and down, dancing side to side and try to imagine what heaven’s dance floor must look like. It doesn’t make the noise bearable, but it does make me laugh. And it does keep me moving in the gym.


Results:
This is a good reminder that I do not own the gym or the world for that matter. I am just a participant. Willing. Grumbling. Gently. Finding my way with everyone else. And if these people weren’t here, who would I learn from? Who would be there to push me a little farther on the treadmill (a great metaphor for life, yes?). Where might I find joy or laughter? And more importantly who would be there to enjoy it with me?


“First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” - Genesis 1:1-2 (MSG)


I know this is God’s world. It’s not mine. Or yours either. We were brought into it for a purpose. To be together, through all trials, noises and smells (another issue I have with gyms!). We were given space and time to work through this stuff together as well as individually. That’s one of the wonderful parts about being made in God’s image.


God is an infinite, supreme, singular deity but not alone. And neither are we. We are God nor are we like God, but a part of God’s DNA.


Being a part of God means we “are a part” of God, not “apart from” God. Me, you, and everyone else in this gym, this city, state, country, and world. Just as God puts up with me, so too am I called to put up with you and them. Noises and smells, et al.


It’s the best way to stay healthy, both spiritually and physically.