Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew? Have you ever committed yourself to something only to find out that there was no way you could possibly finish that?
As I mentioned in my last post, a couple weeks ago, I got a Nintendo Wii. Along with it, I bought Wii Fit Plus, and have been working out everyday for the past 16 days (which is really impressive for me, by the way). This past Sunday, I decided that I had been working out a while, and it was time to do some outdoor exercise. I figured that I was in pretty good shape, because I did the long distance runs on the Wii Fit. So I set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes, put on my running shoes, popped in some headphones, and took off out the door.
I started with a pretty quick pace, and had made it down the street thinking, Wow, I really am in good shape. I feel great!
Fast forward about 30 seconds, and I am already out of breath, struggling to take every step, and feeling slightly nauseous. I pushed myself along until the minivan driving down the street couldn't see me anymore, and then I stopped to walk. I checked my timer.... Not even 5 minutes. I thought to myself, I can't go back yet! Andrea is back in my apartment, and she's going to think I'm a pansy. So I walked for a few more minutes, and then started jogging again; much, much slower than I had started. But it was no use, I'd already spent all my energy.
I hobbled along at sort of a half run for another couple minutes before I decided that I would rather embarrass myself in front of Andrea by coming back in early than embarrass myself in front of the whole world by continuing to hobble on pathetically. So I stumble back over to my apartment, let myself in, wave feebly to Andrea, and lurch back to my bedroom where I collapse on the bed while lights dance before my eyes. When I finally get the energy a couple minutes later to check my timer, it has just barely hit 15 minutes.
That's right. In 15 minutes, I went from feeling very in shape and good about myself, to collapsing on my bed exhausted and feeling sick.
I think I bit off more than I could chew. I think I convinced myself that I was in better shape than I actually was, and pushed myself too hard too fast, and completely ruined a potentially good workout. Because we aren't designed to just be able to get up out of our sedentary lifestyles and run 30 minutes like its no big deal. We're not supposed to sprint when we've never even really jogged.
And this is true about every kind of exercise. From physical exercise to mental exercise to spiritual exercise.
We can't listen to a sermon about prayer, and then go home and spend two hours on your knees before God. We can't live a spiritually sedentary life, and then expect to create a spiritually meaningful encounter with God whenever we want. They're called spiritual disciplines for a reason.
So I want to encourage you to exercise your spiritual disciplines--to spend a little bit of time praying even when you really don't feel like it. To spend 5 minutes in silence before God even though it makes you uncomfortable. To decide to skip one meal and trust in God to sustain you, even though you really like food and are getting kinda hungry.
We won't feel powerful spiritual connections with God every time we set aside time to pray, or fast, or sit in silence, or practice any other spiritual disciplines, but we can train ourselves to place ourselves in the presence of God for longer and longer periods of time, until we do make that connection with God. Until we can have that relationship with God that we always wished we had, but never really worked for.
And if we can get into real spiritual shape, those times will come to mean everything to us. It won't be nearly as much of a struggle. And we just might meet God on a more intimate level than we ever imagined.
May you constantly grow in your relationship with God and celebrate your connection with Him.
--Tyler
