I had a good reminder waiting for me when I awoke this morning – sore muscles. You see, I spent most of the afternoon yesterday planting our vegetable garden for the summer (minus the tomatoes; I still need to buy those plants) and the crouching position required to plant seeds and cover them in soil uses some muscles that haven’t been worked much lately. I am pleased to note that my back isn’t sore, so I was bearing most of the strain on my legs (as I’m told I should)… but stairs are a bit painful today!
During my unusually long commute this morning, I had the opportunity to reflect on my sore muscles. I was reminded that my muscles wouldn’t have been sore if I had been in better shape. (Duh.)
How similar this is to our time studying God’s word. I made a commitment several months ago to start each day before the sun rose to read the Bible, meditate on the truths found there, and pray. A vacation and some busy time at work rendered that commitment void (temporarily, I hope), and it has been very difficult – painful, like a sore muscle – to get back into that habit.
Why is it that I would expect to be able to jump into deep, meaningful Bible study without any real preparation when I wouldn’t expect to be able to run a marathon or triathlon without a significant amount of preparation? Well, there *was* this time when I ran a 10-mile race with a friend without any training, but I count that among the most significant “how not to to things” lessons in the story of my life. So there *is* a little bit of that sort of attitude in my personality.
What I did learn from my limited athletic experience growing up is that we need to exercise again in spite of the sort muscles, even because of them. When I have some spiritual soreness from trying to shape my lifestyle around God’s principles, I need to remember that. It isn’t going to be easy (or sometimes even pleasant) at first, but perseverance and repetition will get those “muscles” into shape. When I establish discipline in my life, God can bless me through it.
Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27, NASB)
May 6, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Hi, nice post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for sharing. I will certainly be coming back to your posts. Keep up the good work