Training our minds

Clay and I are in a leadership course at church that is led by our preacher and his wife.  The course is designed to teach future leaders in the church about the different aspects of leadership.  We had a session this afternoon, and we were discussing the book Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald.  The gist of the book is that we often have our outer worlds seemingly in order with calendars, Palm Pilots, schedules, etc., but very few of us actually have our private (often spiritual) worlds in order.  We, as Christians, in today's society aren't spending enough time in study, prayer, rest, and the renewing of our minds.  While it was all incredibly pertinent and interesting, God put something on my heart while we were discussing the part about feeding our minds through reading and intellectual discussion.  One part of this chapter talked about a missionary who had a very debilitating stroke that took away his speech and most of his motor skills.  However, he was not discouraged because he still had his mind. 

For years now, I have felt sorry for my Aunt Ann (she's actually my great aunt).  She has incredibly severe and painful arthritis, breast cancer, has already beaten cancer once, has been through knee replacement surgery, and the list actually goes on.  I have felt so sorry for her because she has all of her mental capacities and is incredibly sharp, but she can't really do anything because of her physical limitations.  But she has never once (at least not to my knowledge) considered her physical state as a limitation to her Christian walk and influence.  She continues to attend worship as often as possible - even though it might take her half an hour just to get from the living room to the car.  She continues to devour the scriptures - searching for new insight and meaning.  And I realized tonight that I have had a very limited view of an active Christian life.  God does not need our physical bodies or physical strength to help us grow, and we're never too old to learn from His Word. 

Unfortunately my great aunt and uncle don't have a computer and therefore won't be reading this, but I pray that she knows how much I admire her and appreciate her example of a dedicated Christian life.