I’ve always been a pretty active person. It’s not something I chose; sitting still for too long leaves me restless and moving just feels good. Despite that, when it’s time to start intentional exercise, I often struggle to begin. There are just too many other interesting things to do and working out is—if I’m being honest—kind of a pain. So I talk myself into it or find little rewards to get me moving. Thankfully, once I start, I’m always happy that I did. Barring major injury, even a bad workout leaves me feeling good.

 

Funnily enough, almost the exact same thing is true for my spirituality. I’ve always loved being in church. Even as a single college kid, I rarely missed a Sunday service, Wednesday Eucharist, or special event. And yet, just like intentional exercise, when it comes to doing something spiritual all on my own, I often struggle to begin. My schedule is too full, something urgent needs my attention, or there’s a funny picture on the internet that can’t possibly wait.

 

Something clicked for me when I realized that attending to my spiritual life isn’t any different from attending to any other aspect of life that requires a bit of work. Sometimes it’s easy and requires little effort on my part. Other times (probably more often than not), I need some incentive to pull me away from whatever “urgent” task is keeping me from my spiritual practice. Thankfully, just like physical exercise, I’m almost always grateful I stepped away to reconnect with God, even if just for a few minutes.

 

As with so much of life, that which is truly worth doing requires genuine effort on our part. We can’t hope to be good at any task without putting in the time and labor to develop the skill. Spirituality is no different. It takes work to learn to listen to God, to see the Spirit’s activity in the world, and to become more like Jesus. And just like learning anything, we get from here to mastery one step at a time.

 

What’s your next step? What’s God calling you to focus on now? Where can you invest a little effort in order to move yourself deeper into relationship with the divine? I’m genuinely curious—drop me a note or let me know next time you see me. And let me know how I can support you in your practice. That’s what I’m here for—indeed, that’s what we all are here for: supporting one another in our life in Christ.

 

Blessings,

Justin

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