I did something today I had been meaning to do for a while...I went to the gym. For the past week I had been so busy with school, work, and school (yes, I meant to mention it twice), that I had no time to myself to do the things I so love doing. Working out happens to be one of those things. I love feeling my muscles tighten up as I think about the future of my washboard abs (oh wait, that was my dream). I love running on the machines and feeling all my problems and Twinkies sweat away. But most of all, I love the feeling of getting to the gym, because getting there is the hardest part. Walking into the building is a chore all its own.
Your brain is telling you to run, and I don't mean on a treadmill. It says "turn around now or else you'll regret it." And yes, sometimes you do. Your body feels fatigued and broken after a workout, but that's a good thing. It allows your body to build itself back up. I'm not sure if you know this, but when you do a physical activity, your muscles are using and "eating up" all the extra food and energy reserves you have. If you work out hard enough you begin to burn off so much that it outweighs how much you put into your body, and therein lies the beauty of weight loss.
Well, as your muscles literally break themselves down, there is more room to build them back up to a level greater than before. You take in protein, which adds strength to previously weak areas of your body. As time progresses, you usually see an outward difference in appearance and performance.
I gave you this long health lesson to portray an idea. Sometimes, in life, we go through rough spots. A lot of times these rough spots look like they are impossible to bypass or even trudge through. We see the impossibility of our circumstances, and like so many infants do, we plop onto our bums and start crying. We complain that this or that isn't fair, or this or that is too hard. We decide to stay put instead of going to the gym. The less we face our problems, just like the less we go to the gym, the less fit we get emotionally and spiritually.
God, being the loving Father he is, puts us through times in order to strengthen us, to build our spiritual muscles. Our circumstances break us down to the point that we have to go to him and say, "well, um, I kind of can't do this alone...can you help?" And again, as the loving Father, God comes in and shows us (trains us) in the ways to spiritual strength. As that happens people will see an outward change in us, not like bigger biceps and tighter glutes (although I welcome both). We will produce good fruit, a healthy relationship with Christ, and a love for others that overwhelms those who aren't saved.
It takes time, there is no doubt. And there are days when we just want to stay where we are and indulge in the delicious and fun ways of this world. But as God strengthens us spiritually, it gets a little easier. We will never be perfect (we all miss our days at the gym), but with God as our trainer, we can become great spiritual athletes and run the race well...all the way to the finish.
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