EDMOND —
It’s about time for my summer diet. In fact, it’s well past that time. It’s too late for me to make the male version of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, as if I ever would make it in that publication! But dropping a few pounds will make me feel better and should improve my health. Most of the time when I go to the doctor he says brilliant things like, “Eat right, exercise and lose weight,” as if I didn’t know that was the right thing to do. Maybe you’ve heard that type of advice yourself.
Then why is it so hard for so many of us to do? I know that time is a significant factor for most of us. We spend our time on other things that have a higher priority for us than a healthy lifestyle. I work and spend time with my family, which includes three young boys. After practices, games, lessons, school, homework, fun times together and then an occasional date night with my wife (which are too infrequent, I admit) there is little time left for workouts or dieting (does it really take that much time?).
However, we in the Western world don’t put lots of emphasis on discipline in our lives. Our problems tend to be overeating, too much stress and a sedentary lifestyle. I know in my own life if I could have back all of the time I have wasted, the time I have spent watching TV or doing nothing, I probably could be an accomplished pianist, speak another language or master another field of study.
That’s why I was so impressed to read about Endo Mitsunaga. He is a Buddhist monk who has walked the equivalent of the diameter of the earth (that’s 26,000 miles!). And he’s done it in the past seven years.
Endo, as part of his spiritual pilgrimage, completes a 26-mile trek up and down a mountain every day, for 200 continuous days a year, all the while wearing sandals hand-woven from grass. He marks his daily journey with 260 prayers along the way. Endo has done all of this with a full-time job at the monastery where he lives and cares for the other monks staying there. He rises early, at 12:30 a.m., to begin his walk, finishing by 8 a.m. so that he can work until the end of his day at 8 p.m. He then gets four hours of sleep to begin the process again.
I know, we can sometimes be critical of the monastic life. Is it really that important to spend your life walking around a mountain and serving your fellow monks? Why not come down and serve others as well? But it seems to me that such a commitment shows what we could do if we put our minds to it. If we are focused and committed to our mission in life, we humans can do about anything. Our faith calls us to accomplish the impossible. It’s a matter of priority for us to begin to serve others, to reach out to those in need, to master a skill that would benefit humanity. Even spending more time with our families, building one another up would be admirable.
So before I begin to use the tired, old excuse of “my life is simply too busy to do _______ (fill in your own missing task)” I will remember Endo Mitsunaga, in his grass sandals as he walks around his mountain every day. Maybe I can make a real difference in the lives of my friends and around Edmond.
CHRIS SHOROW is senior pastor at the First Christian Church of Edmond. He may be reached at cshorow@fccedmond.org.
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