Be Our Guest / Patti Lamb

Workout, love between husband and wife offer a reminder God looks into our hearts

Recently, my snug work clothes reminded me that it’s time to get to the gym. I’m tethered to my desk with my new role, and I haven’t been getting my steps in.

As soon as I reached the second floor, I quickly remembered why I had been avoiding the gym. I saw physically-fit people sprinting on treadmills and lots of chiseled bodies at the weight machines. Some folks really dress the part in fancy sports gear and gym shoes. I will not comment on the intensity of the spin class I witnessed down on the first floor.

I felt defeated before I even stepped on the treadmill. To make matters worse, I couldn’t get the machine to work. I kept pressing the button prompts and nothing would happen.

“That one is out of order,” the man on the nearby treadmill said.

“It’s been broken for weeks,” he added.

I thanked him and, embarrassed, stepped off the treadmill. I finally found a functioning machine, hopped on and starting walking. I cranked the volume on my headphones with fast tunes for cardio and tried to increase my pace. Still, I couldn’t help but look around at all the gym regulars and feel inferior.

That’s when I glanced over to the track and saw a T-shirt I didn’t expect. A physically-fit man, whom I would guess was in his 60’s, was wearing a shirt that said, “I LOVE MY WIFE.” I thought that was a lovely message to share in today’s society.

I imagined his wife was as fit as a fiddle.

“She’s probably in that spin class downstairs right now,” I thought to myself.

He disappeared out of sight until a few minutes later when I saw him walking with a woman on the indoor track. She was beautiful and fit, but she was slumped over and shuffling her feet, leaning on a rolling walker. It appeared that she had suffered a stroke or some health setback.

Although he looked like a routine marathoner, her husband took tiny steps alongside her. Runners sprinted by, so he made sure his wife was in the far-right lane, and he kept his hand on the small of her back.

My eyes got misty watching the couple walk together.

I realize it’s critically important to take care of our bodies—something I have not been doing recently. But it’s also important to remember that our bodies are shells. And what’s most important are the souls dwelling inside.

That day at the gym, I was most impressed not with herculean muscles or seemingly ageless women. Instead, I found myself marveling at the love between a man and his wife.

The next morning at Mass, which was the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the first reading was about when the Lord sent Samuel to choose from among Jesse’s sons to be king. Samuel took a look at Eliab and thought there was no contest among Jesse’s sons.

“Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him,” Samuel uttered, upon seeing Eliab (1 Sm 16:6).

“But the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Sm 16:7).

Isn’t that refreshing? Our Creator looks to our hearts—not to our waistlines, our net worth, or our degrees.

We are called to do the same—to look beyond earthly measures and to connect with God from our hearts.
 

(Patti Lamb is a member of St. Susanna Parish in Plainfield.) †