Walking is healthful! It helps manage blood pressure, diabetes, weight, and stress and helps you stay strong and active.14 Involve the whole family, and invite a lonely or elderly neighbor on a walk. Not only is walking a fantastic way to exercise, but it also allows time to encourage conversation with someone you don’t know. Get to know that person who lives next door or the one who rarely has visitors. Brighten his or her spirit, and enjoy the beautiful scenery God created at the same time.
Do you have small children in your family? Push them in the stroller as your family walks with your neighbor. Dad doesn’t particularly enjoy walking? Invite him to ride his bike alongside. Does your teen have a more active idea in mind? Suggest that he rollerblade while the rest of the family walks. The point is to do this project as a family and to extend the invitation to someone else to join.
Up for Discussion
How did this activity provide family unity? How could you make it a weekly event? What impact would it have on the lonely or elderly person you asked to join your family?
Discuss 1 Cor. 6:19-20. Why does the Bible place an emphasis on keeping your temple healthy? What does it mean “you were bought at a price”? What are some other ways, besides exercise, that you can keep your temple healthy? Discuss these ways, including spiritually, mentally, and physically. How does this activity help others keep healthy the bodies God gave them?
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
—1 Cor. 6:19-20