How do we look?

Exercising regularly in the fitness center at Bluffton Family Recreation has brought a number of issues to light. When the alarm rings we simply get up and throw on an old t shirt and shorts, eat some breakfast and go as we are. When we get to the fitness center, we look like we just got out of bed with hair going all directions and eyes looking kind of groggy. We really like it when the fitness center is empty or mostly empty and I think the main issue is how we will look doing our exercises. Our trainer has given us a number of exercises to help our balance. I look really ridiculous trying to balance on one foot while lifting an 8 lb. weight above my head. I am hopping around all over the place trying to balance on one foot. This shows the trainer that I need even more balancing exercises so I have good balance when older and won’t fall and break something. Why am I concerned with how I look when exercising? Certainly there is no competition. Everyone is there for the same purpose: to get in better physical conditioning.

In reality it doesn’t matter if our hair is not purpose when in the fitness center and if we look ridiculous trying to balance. Our purpose is not to look presentable but to get fit and improve our physical conditioning. Everyone in the room has the same purpose and is not checking out how other exercisers look. The fitness center is a specific place for exercising and so I am not embarrassed to do all sorts of exercises when in that room because that is exactly what the room is for.

Sometimes I think we are concerned about what people will think if they see us praying. We don’t want to “get caught” praying and so we don’t pray at all. We especially do not want others to see us using a specific prayer position like kneeling or sitting in a receptive mode with our palms up and eyes closed.

I wonder sometimes if it would help to have a specific room set apart for prayer. Nothing would take place in the room except prayer and meditation. When going into the room we would know that others in the room are praying and we would enter it solely for the purpose of praying. It wouldn’t matter if people would see us kneeling in prayer or see us trying various prayer positions (even lying prostrate before God) because all would know that that prayer is the purpose of the room.

Certainly we can pray to Heavenly Parent any time and any place. We don’t need to have a specific room in order to pray. In fact, I have found that my best prayer position is walking or riding bicycle. I have also found it very worshipful to pray while walking around the various church sanctuaries that I have been connected to. But I admit that I am uncomfortable if I think someone will find me in the sanctuary and wonder what in the world I am doing walking in circles in the sanctuary or kneeling at the railing of the balcony looking down at empty benches. Even so, I think it could be greatly beneficial to have a room dedicated for the discipline of prayer. Not all our praying would be done there, but when we would be in that room it would easier to pray without distractions and we would not forget why we were in that room.

I can exercise in other places than the fitness center but it helps me be disciplined and accountable to go to the fitness center, and exercise. Could a prayer room work in the same way? I wonder…