Do Something

How old am I? I remember when Nike was the K-Mart of basketball sneakers. I think they were moving out of just making running shoes into other types of athletic foot-ware. Putting away the waffle-maker. B.J. Before Jordan.  Made poorly. Crap. I also didn't much like the dude on the basketball team either who worn them.

Nike's iconic Swoosh and "Just Do It" mantra was branding excellence. This philosophy admonished wearers to leave excuses behind. I have been reminded of this recently in conversations with several other people who mentioned that they have decided that doing something in a positive direction is better than do nothing. For one, it is walking the treadmill daily, for the other it is visiting the climbing gym. So, often we feel as if we have to go hard core before our efforts matter. Both are experiencing a high degree of success by being consistently good rather than occasionally great. Weekend warrior stuff is stupid. Good way to get hurt and discouraged from do anything else fitness-wise until the following weekend.  

I have recently decided to lift weights 20 minutes a morning, with one day off a week. One day, lower body, the next day upper body. So far so good. It has been a week and a day of waking up that 20 minutes earlier a day at 5 rather than 5:20. By the time I fully wake-up, it is almost over. I have tried for years to lift weights after school and I just couldn't surmount the psychological burden of picking up weights after a hard day at work. It seemed like punishment. So, I would drink a cup of coffee to get revved up which then would disrupt my sleep. Not a good idea to drink coffee at 4:00 pm.

How about spiritually? The Bible intimidates us. It is a big book. I have read it straight through twice, a chapter a day. We think if we can't pound out chapters a day that we are failing. God's Word does not return void. Even a little is a lot in God's hand...like the miracle of the bread and the fishes. Prayer is another arena where I have often felt deficient. Somehow, if I don't get up at 4:00 and pray fervently and get calloused knees, my prayers don't have power. Not so. How about the Lord's Prayer? It can be said in less than thirty seconds. There is a reason why Jesus showed us how to pray like this in short stretches. He knows our tendency to get distracted.

Sure, it would be awesome to pray for hours and read thousands of words of the Bible daily. The Devil wants to persuade us that we need to be spiritual superstars rather than just simple saints. Who do what they can rather than what they think they should.            

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