Thursday, September 10, 2009

Dig Deep

I went to my first spin class today at the Y. Turns out it was an advanced class and today's course was a strength workout of hills, hills and more hills. At about the 30-minute mark when I didn't think I could go any longer and the Life cereal I had eaten an hour earlier rose dangerously close to the surface, I began to think this was all a big mistake and physical fitness was way overrated (the expression "fat and happy" came from somewhere, right?).

Right then, the instructor began telling us to "Persevere," "Dig deep." I decided she was on a personal mission to destroy me and then I had a flashback to my college years when I would do advanced Tae Bo with a group of friends and Billy Blanks would tell us to "dig deep" and we would get so angry at Billy we would begin throwing towels, mats, water bottles, you name it, at the television. But, before we knew it, our rage against Billy pulled us through to the end of the workout and we felt immensely proud of ourselves, running the rest of the day on that "work-out high."

I gritted my teeth, focused straight ahead and determined to make it through.

We have a bad habit of thinking that God is our one-stop shop for an easier life, when the truth is that more often God is the training instructor, putting us on the right path, asking us to dig deep through the rough patches and encouraging us the whole way knowing that making it through is the very best thing for us (even if our limited perspective greatly disagrees along the way).

Life isn't always easy. God never said it would be. Dig deep, God is with you and He will pull you through.

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