Wanting... working... doing!

I was feeling down about my ankle a few weeks ago, since it hadn't been getting better for quite a while.  I felt especially grumpy about it when we went to HK for a short trip, and my ankle got sore just from a little walking around Ocean Park etc.  On top of my well-worn ankle, when I go away on holiday, my quiet time and prayer life tends to fray as well, because the usual routine gets messed up.  So overall, my mood wasn't the best.

Nevertheless, when we stumble, one of the most important things is to dust yourself off and get going again as soon as possible, before the inertia sets in any deeper.  So I did try to get back to my quiet time - but I kept getting derailed by the hundreds of backlogged work mails!  And my ankle was still bothering me.  So suffice to say, my mood wasn't the best.

Then one Sunday at church, during worship, I got a strong impression that God was telling me that my ankle was symptomatic of my life.  He told me that just like my ankle was stopping me from running and jumping, there was something in my spiritual life that was preventing me from walking joyfully with God.

So I determined to do something about it.  For my ankle, I started doing all those silly physio-recommended exercises that seemed to do nothing.  For my spiritual life, I went back to catch up on my Bible reading.  And I got back to my journaling and worship.

For a while, nothing really seemed to change.  Those useless seeming physio exercises continued to do nothing.  My quiet time didn't bring any fresh revelation.  Then one evening, after I finished yet another set of those boring exercises, I realized "Hey.  My ankle doesn't seem sore any more..."

1. Wanting it.  We want many things in life.  We want to be happy, we want to be healthy, we want to be useful, we want to be successful.  That's important, because the first step to achieving anything is to want it.  I really want my ankle to be well.  Similarly I want my spiritual walk to be fruitful.  So the first question is, do you and I WANT to know God, and the abundant life He promises?


2.  Working on it.  But it's not enough to want something.  We have to work on it.  For my ankle, I had to go through all those seemingly fruitless exercises.  For my spiritual life, I have to work through quiet time, Bible study and prayer, which don't always seem to bring immediate results either.  So the second question is, are you and I prepared to WORK on it, and believe God that He will give us the perseverance to endure the process of being moulded for His purpose?

3.  Doing it.  Finally, even after we decide we want something, and even if we work on it, we still need to take the final step of going out and actually DOING it.  There's no point in wanting something, working on it, while never actually going out and doing it.  It's like the mountaineer who decides on an expedition, trains for it, and then continually puts off the expedition because he's too busy with something else, or he's waiting for the right conditions, or a myriad of other reasons.  At some point, we have to bite the bullet, trust that God has prepared the way, and go for it!

So, on Friday, after wanting it, and working on it, I finally did it - went for my first run in 3 months.  I was slow, I had to walk halfway, and my legs are still sore today (but not my ankle!) but I did it :)


I pray that I will learn how to apply this to every other part of my life - to keep working on my spiritual disciplines, and keep blessing my friends, family and community with good deeds and the Good News.  To have the courage first to make promises to do these right things, and then actually fulfill them.  To resist discouragement and scorn and keep picking myself up when I stumble and fall.  To keep picking up my loved ones and encouraging them to do the same.  To throw off distractions, and keep my eyes focused on God, so that I don't conquer mountains, only to find I've climbed up the wrong one.  To enjoy His surpassing love, joy and assurance as I walk in His plan, worked out for my good.

As I've said on this blog before - this kind of life, is really worth living!

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