My familiarity with Andrews University started when our oldest son went to college there. There was an awesome (and a little scary) bike trail that my son loved to ride on. He even convinced me, one time, to ride with him. It was both beautiful and challenging. But my son, who worked at camp for several years in the bike department, really loved the trails around the University. He also participated in Gymnics for several years and really enjoyed that, too.
Then our second son joined his older brother, and he, too, found plenty of opportunities to run and play in-between studies. I often found him with a football in hand, ready to play catch with anyone who would join him.
There was plenty of studying going on too, but it was nice to see there was a balance in their lives between study and exercise.
This reminds me of a statement Ellen White made, in the book “Education,” where White addressed the importance of exercise, even at school. She said:
“The whole body is designed for action; and unless the physical powers are kept in health by active exercise, the mental powers cannot long be used to their highest capacity. The physical inaction which seems almost inevitable in the schoolroom. … “Children should not be long confined within doors, nor should they be required to apply themselves closely to study until a good foundation has been laid for physical development. For the first eight or 10 years of a child’s life the field or garden is the best schoolroom, the mother the best teacher, nature the best lesson book. Even when the child is old enough to attend school, his health should be regarded as of greater importance than a knowledge of books. He should be surrounded with the conditions most favorable to both physical and mental growth.”
We often focus on book learning and the spiritual side of life but often fall short of making sure our body receives attention, too.
Maybe that’s why John, in III John 1:2, wrote the following: “Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.”
Maybe I need to ask myself: “Am I as healthy in body as I am in spirit? Both are important, for one, without the other, means that we are not healthy at all. Maybe we should be like my sons at Andrews, who found time to focus on the physical, as well as their studies. If we do, we would fulfill John’s wish for a balanced life.
Until recently, Lee Whitman was the health ministries director for the Indiana Conference.