Enjoying God’s Good Gifts—together

CORE PRACTICE #38: Make a special effort to learn more about your spouse’s passions and interests.

It is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. —Ecclesiastes 5:19

TONY

I’ve got to confess, I haven’t always been so quick to notice the importance of some of the changes in Lauren’s life. As a result, I haven’t been as supportive initially as I should have been. I’m trying to be better at paying attention.

For example, in the last few years Lauren has gotten more engaged in physical fitness. She has always been in good shape, but she has become even more intentional about it. When she began running and discovered how much she enjoyed it, she ran more often and for much longer distances. She soon progressed to running in 5K races. Now she likes to enter half marathons. Her latest passion is triathlons—swim, bike, and run. To encourage Lauren as she trains, I decided I should join her. That way, not only would I be supporting her, but I would be honoring God myself by taking care of my body a little better. So I got involved in the running portion of her training programs.

I haven’t gotten into the triathlon training as much though. The reason is simple—I like to swim for fun, but not to the point of total exhaustion. And I don’t enjoy pushing myself so hard that I feel as if I’m drowning, even if I am only in four feet of water.

I decided that a better way for me to help was to research different training methods and the various watches and apps available to track the metrics of her workouts, such as her heart rate, distance, and split times. We’ve also looked into different boot camps and cross-training classes.

Not only has our partnership in the area of fitness made us both healthier, I’ve discovered just how interesting Lauren’s new pursuits can be. She always seems to embrace activities that will help her become the person God wants her to be.

Lauren has also found that training for triathlons brings her great pleasure. And as Solomon points out in today’s verses, God wants us to enjoy material blessings, including our health and our work. Of course, as anyone who has read Ecclesiastes knows, Solomon warns that if we idolize any of these blessings in themselves, we’re likely to end up feeling as he did—that life is meaningless. The key, he says, is to “accept our lot in life,” to keep “busy enjoying life” (Ecclesiastes 5:20), and to “remember your Creator” (12:6), the giver of all good gifts. That perspective, I’ve discovered, is much easier to maintain when Lauren and I live it out together.

After all, as I’m learning much about this new passion of hers, I’m learning much about her. Lauren and I even ran a 5K race together in May 2013 to benefit the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. It was my first one, and for me, those 3.1 miles were not only a special effort, but also a true labor of love!

Adventure Application: In what ways are you and your spouse “busy enjoying life” together right now? If that’s a tough question to answer, focus on an activity this week that one of you loves to do. Intentionally learn more about it or even engage in it together.