did Jesus exercise?

As I look in the bible for examples of exercise as I have understood it, at first glance I can't find anything.  No gyms or weight rooms mentioned in any of the Old or New Testament stories.

Then I decided to look it up in the dictionary.  Dictionary.com defines exercise as bodily or mental exertion.  Hm.  So after thinking about this definition I have decided to refer to exercise as movement to support my shift in thinking.  I am retraining my mind to understand that exercise does not have to be a sweaty 60 minute work-out at a gym.

After shifting gears and searching deeper, I sought God's Word again looking for movement and this time quickly found that these individuals moved their bodies all the time.

It was their lifestyle. 

At first I had written "it was a part of their lifestyle" but then I reworded that because it was not just a part, it was their lifestyle.  Everything they did required physical activity: from gathering and preparing food to fetching water to making and cleaning clothing to transportation.  Noah must have been in incredible shape considering he built an entire ark with his own two hands.  Jesus often traveled from His home in Galilee to Jerusalem which I learned is a distance of over 100 miles.  I will repeat that he walked this route OFTEN.  These biblical heroes walked, built, carried, and exerted physical strength in almost every single task. 

While the advancements of technology have made a way for us to maximize our time, we also rarely need to exert much physical strength on a daily basis which is unnatural for our bodies that were designed to move throughout the day.  While I am thankful for technology, through this study of exercise I can see that it is a disservice to our physical bodies which requires that we are extra intentional to move.

The more we can revive a physically active lifestyle, the healthier we will be.

And in light of shifting my perspective on this concept of exercise, I wonder if I can't implement it into my daily activities.  Rather than breaking a sweat at the gym or following a diligent work-out routine, I am going to look for ways to move throughout my day and create this healthy habit of moving as a lifestyle.

Here are some ideas I am going to try:
1. Walk or bike when possible to nearby places- church, grocery store, post office, friend's homes
2. When driving- choose a parking spot far from the entrance and walk into the location
3. Put things away after their use- after using a toy or dish, rather than waiting until the end of the day to do everything at and move as little as possible like I often do, return it to its home right away to keep my body moving
4. When bringing groceries into the house- bring in one bag at a time.  I literally try to grab every single bag on one arm, almost ripping my shoulder socket out of joint, just to save a trip.
5. While watching TV, stretch or sit on the floor and find ways to work my core or legs and keep my body moving
6. Take out the garbage right away, rather than leaving it sit by the door until the next time I plan on going out
7. Stand and walk around with putting Eden to sleep rather than using a rocking chair
8. When the laundry buzzes, get up and fold the clothes rather than staying on the couch and saving it for later
9. Take the stairs rather than using escalators or elevators 

10. Wear Eden rather than using a stroller for the extra strength training opportunity 

While I am tempted to assume some of these little things are not worth it, they add up when consistently implemented into a lifestyle.  This is the same thinking that allowed my husband and I to climb our way out of $64,000 of debt in a few years on a limited income, because rather than saying, "it's only twenty bucks" or "it's only one dollar more" or even "it's only 50 cents," we tightened in every possible expense.  After a few years of living that way ended up with incredible fruit to show for it.

I can do the same thing with movement by finding simple and small ways to move my body throughout the day to create an active lifestyle and therefore a healthy body.

 I will ask God for help as I continue to look ways to live a healthy life.