You need strength of built to fight a lion. You need strength of will to fight obstruction. You need strength of heart to fight frustration. You need strength of soul to fight temptation.
When God put “self” in man, all hell broke loose; from “self” came all sorts of dirt and refuse. If God could just remove the “self” from man, the world be freed from all things inhuman. But then without “self” how will the world be? None might even care dressing their body. Yes, we may have licked crimes and poverty, but we’ve threatened man’s perpetuity.
Life is a sheet of blank papers and pen: “We write our life like one made in heaven.” Sadly though, some don’t have the pen with them: “It’s others doing the writing for them.
When on your way home to your family, and you meet some friends who do invite thee, learn to say no, lest they’re dearer to you than your family who’s waiting for you. When you’re running late for sales appointment, and you see fuss over an accident, don’t you get drawn in by the commotion, lest you miss out on the presentation.
Perhaps Phillip was just not interested in becoming stronger; perhaps it was not the exercise itself that mattered to him, but the experience of it. Maybe he wanted to set the tone of each morning by always trying, always failing, the consequent band of pain across his chest serving as a reminder of that failure to carry him through the day.
Your blood is full with vigor my brave soldier of destiny, so bring all that vigor out in the service of your family called humanity.