day 426: Annual Physicals

In the 1980s companies began realizing that the physical well-being of a worker was important to their ability to do their job. Before this we were in the "Mad Men" time when lunches consisted of drinking and people could sit in their offices and smoke cigars and cigarettes. I remember the first few years of working and having my boss smoke his pipe in his office. We would shut the door for a one-on-one meeting and he would enjoy his cigar and I would too in a second-hand way. And then something began to change where companies saw that their executives in particular were having more heart attacks and strokes and overall health issues. Along with the government, companies began banning smoking in the workplace and companies started focusing on health improvement as part of the workplace offering. It would be nice to think that this was because corporate boards were actually being sensitive and overly caring about their employees, but the bottom line was that health care costs were going through the roof and they needed to do something to curb the premium increases. If they could get their people healthier then just maybe they could see a better overall experience rating and thus a lower increase in their insurance premiums year over year. So, in came fitness centers and the introduction of annual company-paid physical exams for executives and others at certain levels within the company. These started as a perq but over time to some people became important in their quest to become healthier. Data shows that these efforts did work and companies have done better with their experience ratings and overall health of their teams. But we know that physical strength is only part of the overall human condition. How much better we would be if we also addressed our spiritual strength with the same effort and conviction as we have our physical well-being? Church is our fitness center but we still need the daily and consistent training and exercising of our spiritual being just like we do our physical body. David tells us in Psalm 73:26 that our physical strength will pass, but our spiritual strength can remain strong: "My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever." Those annual physicals that were given to us did wonders for many, but nothing is as wondrous as finding our strength from God first. Today, think about what level of effort and conviction you put into your physical body and compare it to your spiritual conditioning. Which one wins out and what does that tell you about where you draw your strength from?

Reference: Psalm 73:26 (New Living Testament)