Sharing the Victory Magazine: Tuesdays with James: The countdown begins
Tuesdays with James: The countdown begins
Looking at my calendar today I realized that we have 28 days to go in our “Do Hard Things” challenge. Man has it been an adventure! I hope you have been encouraged to step up in the area God has called you to during the last couple of months.
I calculated what it will take to complete James by November 30th and it looks like I will have to memorize 1.464 verses every day (ok I will just round up to two). This is definitely going to be a challenge and a commitment of time.
I have come to a conclusion though that even after November 30th, my call to do something hard does not end. How often do we do that? We challenge ourselves in an area and then we take a nice long break before we do something hard again.
Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely advocate getting rest, but sometimes I think (at least for me personally) we reward ourselves more than necessary.
A great example comes from my experience running. It takes me an average of 3 months to train for a marathon. During that time I am eating healthy, getting lots of sleep and training really hard. After I recover from the marathon I take a nice long break. While this is good for me in most areas, it is also bad. This break usually consists of eating unhealthy, staying up late and generally being lazy. On average, this recovery time should last about 1-2 weeks. I however often let it drift into 1-2 months and then when I try to get back into training, it becomes a horribly painful process.
I am treating my body like a yo-yo. Go all out and then do nothing… back and forth, back and forth. How often do we treat our spiritual lives like this as well? Whether it is because we are burnt out, in sin or are just bored, our spiritual depths sometimes reflect the yo-yo mentality.
I don’t believe there is a magic formula to prevent this. A lot of it is the ebb and flow of our daily lives. I do think it is a good reminder and realization, something we all need be aware of.
It helps when you know your own limits. What will push you toward burn out or into sin? We should never compromise our morality or character to accomplish a hard task.
Unfortunately I have found that memorizing James has fallen into the yo-yo category far too often. If I take a long break and then try to pick up where I left off, I have a harder time recalling the previous verses I memorized. When I am consistently in the Word, memorizing enough to be challenging, but not overwhelming, I am in a better position to learn and grow in God’s Word.
What area in your life do you need to restructure so that it does not look like a yo-yo? How can you become more consistent in that area, still challenging yourself, but not driving yourself into “burn-out” mode?
I calculated what it will take to complete James by November 30th and it looks like I will have to memorize 1.464 verses every day (ok I will just round up to two). This is definitely going to be a challenge and a commitment of time.
I have come to a conclusion though that even after November 30th, my call to do something hard does not end. How often do we do that? We challenge ourselves in an area and then we take a nice long break before we do something hard again.
Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely advocate getting rest, but sometimes I think (at least for me personally) we reward ourselves more than necessary.
A great example comes from my experience running. It takes me an average of 3 months to train for a marathon. During that time I am eating healthy, getting lots of sleep and training really hard. After I recover from the marathon I take a nice long break. While this is good for me in most areas, it is also bad. This break usually consists of eating unhealthy, staying up late and generally being lazy. On average, this recovery time should last about 1-2 weeks. I however often let it drift into 1-2 months and then when I try to get back into training, it becomes a horribly painful process.
I am treating my body like a yo-yo. Go all out and then do nothing… back and forth, back and forth. How often do we treat our spiritual lives like this as well? Whether it is because we are burnt out, in sin or are just bored, our spiritual depths sometimes reflect the yo-yo mentality.
I don’t believe there is a magic formula to prevent this. A lot of it is the ebb and flow of our daily lives. I do think it is a good reminder and realization, something we all need be aware of.
It helps when you know your own limits. What will push you toward burn out or into sin? We should never compromise our morality or character to accomplish a hard task.
Unfortunately I have found that memorizing James has fallen into the yo-yo category far too often. If I take a long break and then try to pick up where I left off, I have a harder time recalling the previous verses I memorized. When I am consistently in the Word, memorizing enough to be challenging, but not overwhelming, I am in a better position to learn and grow in God’s Word.
What area in your life do you need to restructure so that it does not look like a yo-yo? How can you become more consistent in that area, still challenging yourself, but not driving yourself into “burn-out” mode?