Building Muscle

If you are my Facebook friend, you may have noticed that I am on a mission to get in shape for a 2.6 mile marathon I’m planning to walk on March 17th to support the organization where I work.  I say that tongue in cheek because if you are my Facebook friend you are probably so tired of reading about it that you may have unfollowed me by now.

Now that I have a trainer, I’m finding that there is a science to building muscle.  It involves repetition, very slow increases, and consistency.   It has to be intentional and it is often painful, though if you are doing it right, never too painful.

In talking to my BFF yesterday, who might want to remain anonymous for many reasons, we were talking about resiliency.  She and her husband are some of the kindest, most generous people I have ever met, but they have also been through more crap than you can imagine.  I seriously could write a book about all of the hard things they have gone through in their lives.   Because of this they are also the most resilient people I know.   No matter what they go through they still get up the next morning and continue to be thoughtful, giving, kind, generous, loving people.   Every.  Single.  Day.

I’m concluding as I get older that resiliency is like a muscle and it is only built through hard times.   When God brings us through a crisis that seems overwhelming, we have one more memory to build our foundation of endurance and faith.   The more we go through hard things, if we trust in Him and allow Him to make us stronger, the more resilient we become.

I’ve also been thinking about how our tendency as parents is to rescue our children from the things that God may have in mind to make them more resilient.   We have rescued our adult children from their hard times on multiple occasions and I am questioning whether or not this is hampering them from developing the incredibly important muscles of resilience.

When I first went to the gym, I never said to myself “I am so happy that my arms feel like they are going to fall off right now.”   But when I saw the results of the pain that I went through, I feel pretty good about what I did to get to where I am.  That’s building physical muscle.  It’s how it works.     

Now, I am replacing that language as I have made progress and I often do say to myself, “Wow, my arms are hurting.  I bet I’m building muscle.

So if you are going through something difficult in your life, it may not be your first response to say, “I’m so glad I’m going through this hard time.”  But it may be that once you are over on the other side you will be pleased with how you got to where you are.  That’s building spiritual muscle and resiliency.  It’s how it works.

The same is true in my spiritual life.   Having gone through the hope cycle multiple times in my life: (suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope) I can recognize what God is doing.  I can sometimes even say to myself, “Wow, God must be working in and through me right now.”  

I had a coworker share this song with me and I love it because it talks about dancing in the deep while God calms the storm.     This is my prayer in my own life … that I will become the kind of person who well step out into the sea and dance in the deep, knowing that God is building spiritual muscle in me and that I am becoming more resilient by the day.