WATCHING the Commonwealth Games reminds me that all of us are both body and spirit.

It is wonderful to watch the athletes with such wonderfully trim bodies, muscles rippling as they take part in their various events.

They perform feats that it is hard to imagine the human body being capable of. I can only sit in amazement in my armchair and marvel!

There is also a hint of envy because I would certainly like to look as good as they do. I look down upon my middle-age spread in despair!

But the athletes don't gain their super-fitness by sitting in armchairs. Fitness at this level is a matter of spirit.

They have to have the perseverance of spirit to put in all the gruelling practice. They have to turn out, come wind, rain or shine. And they often have to battle against quite severe injury before they make a comeback. My temptation would be to give up after the first experience of surgery.

And the fact that human beings are spirits is made even more abundantly clear in watching the athletes with disabilities. Most of us, I guess, would simply give up. But many who are competing in the games have had to battle against enormous physical challenges to compete at all.

I believe this strength of spirit comes from God. Of course it demands great determination and hard work, but it is also a gift to be cherished.

We may not be athletes, but we all have bodies and spirits. The Commonwealth Games make me more determined to see both as gifts from God.

Michael Williams

Vicar of Bolton Parish Church