Spiritual strength, like physical strength, requires work.
Spring is here, or really close, and shorts weather will soon follow. I love doing yoga and Pilates, but I don’t like doing cardio and I really loathe working on my arms. But, as a gal in her mid-forties, if I don’t want those famed choir lady arms, or as my mama calls them, angel wings, I have to put in some time with weights. Sigh.
At this point in my life, if I want to be happy with how I look, I have to put in some time and effort. Oh, I wish it wasn’t so, and that I could still eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, and only sweat occasionally, but those days are gone.
As I have grown older and hopefully wiser, I have learned that most all of the things that matter to me in my life require my time and attention. My marriage requires my time and attention if I want it to remain strong and fulfilling. My relationship with my children requires my time and attention and sometimes loads of patience, if I have any hope of them becoming productive adults with strong character, who make me and their Daddy proud. Relationships require my time and effort.
What about my relationship with God? As a teen, I would have said that I believed Jesus was my savior and I prayed. I believed that was enough. I also believed that eating chocolate cookies for breakfast wouldn’t make me fat.
But, times and circumstances change. I have come to understand that if I want a true, close relationship with God, it requires effort on my part. I have to attend regular worship services because God requires true worship of Him and Him alone. I can’t really do that sitting at home on the couch or at the lake.
I have to spend daily quiet time in prayer. I can’t hear Him if I’m not quiet and still. When I hear people say that God doesn’t ever speak to them, I often wonder if they are ever quiet when they pray. When we don’t quiet our minds, we can’t hear. Self-talk is not the same as prayer.
Finally, I have to spend some daily time reading the Bible. It doesn’t require a lot of time. It can be a daily devotion or a follow along Bible study, but to be truly close with God and to be able to discern His will for my life and His voice over the voices of others, I have to know His story and His character. I can only truly find that in the Bible.
There are times when my day has been over scheduled and I’m almost too exhausted to breathe, that I wonder if I really have the time. Can’t I just skip a day? I can, but, like those choir lady arms that I don’t want, if I want to be as spiritually strong as possible, I just have to commit the time.
And you know what? The results, like peace, patience and joy, are always worth it.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂