When I am inactive I tend to remain inactive. I believe it is a law of physics thing. When I am active I tend to be more active — if I have gone running recently it is significantly easier for me to go on another run.
This is an experience I assume most people have. When I feel fit I enjoy feeling fit and so I strive to actually be fit and in doing so I become even more fit — and the positive feedback loop continues. But sadly the same is true for the exact opposite — when I feel out of shape I tend to feel hopeless I would ever be back in shape and so it is hard to get active.
I’ve had a bear of a time getting active again. For many months it was just thinking about how I should be more active. Then was a period of trying activity but being so unfit it was hard to keep going or to push harder. Then finally at some point I must’ve walked or “run” that key mile that pushed me over that barrier between just trying to be active to actually feeling active. And that feeling of feeling active lit a spark that bred more activity. It also helped that my physical body changed during this journey — I’ve finally lost those antagonizing 20 pounds which have had me on the dark side of activity. All this activity has had positive results which is breeding in me the desire to be more active, to achieve more success.
I say all that because I recently realized that that is like my relationship with God.
If I spend time with God I want to spend more time with Him. If He is my focus and my center then I do what I can to keep Him in focus and at the center. I live in an orb of amazingness feeling close to God — but also longing to keep doing more to be even closer.
But if I start to lose focus? If my center gets shifted? Well then I am in for a significant battle back to being where I should be. I know where I should be. But do I just think about it or do I extend the effort to make it there?
There is an an ebb and flow to life – both physical fitness-wise and spiritually. Every day we need to be attentive or we will eventually discover that we have not paid well enough attention and have slipped quite far away from where we had started or where we thought we were. Or we may have even thought we were still doing okay – hovering along in a good place. But were we to dare to try to run? Well we might find that we somehow gained 20 pounds and can’t actually get our bodies to move how and like they used to be able to move. Or we may start feeling overwhelmed by things in life that previously couldn’t overwhelm us — so what changed?
Seek God as your center. And if you drift a touch or many miles do not give up hope that He can be at your center again. Do more to inch your way closer. Start with one prayer. Eventually you may add more prayers. Or do more God-focused activities. And yes, in time, and though it may be hard to see from where you currently stand, you will find your way back. And once you get there by all means keep going!
Give God Your Yes 