Zigzagging Through Life Part II

Zigzagging Through Life – Part II

There are four major spiritual disciplines I use to zigzag my way through life.  First, patience is critical to realizing goals and dreams.  In the spiritual realm, nothing happens overnight.  The technologically rapid and scientifically advancing world in which we live leaves us with a severe deficiency as it relates to patience.  Our younger generation experiences great difficulty in waiting for the materialization of God’s promises.  Credit cards and other forms of consumer debt (payday loans, cash advances, salary advances, title loans, etc.) undermine the practice of delayed gratification.  Prior to the wholesale marketing of these financial products to the American public, a person had to work hard and save to enjoy some of life’s luxuries.  The instant swipe of a metallic strip on a plastic card buys whatever a person wants.  When the bill and large percentages of interests arrive, he must zigzag to pay it.  Likewise in the pursuit of physical fitness and wellness, a person cannot expect to obtain a body like the late Charles Atlas within weeks.  It simply takes time!  Without patience, you can never hope to earn any reward of lasting value.

Continually, I zigzag toward daily maintenance of physical health.  In the summer of 1991, I viewed some photos from a vacation that I had taken.  In one specific picture, I was not technically a part of the group.  However, my stomach spilled over into the snapshot.  When I saw it, I declared, “Good God, who lives in Zion and looks favorably upon Israel, have mercy upon me!”  I proceeded to pray for the willingness to start an exercise routine.  My desire to do so did not come right away.  In fact, I prayed more than a year before I found the strength to embark upon the journey of physical and spiritual wholeness.  In the interim, I took small steps toward the goal.  I bought a good pair of running shoes and a couple of running outfits.  I even laid them out on the bed to remind me of the need to go running after work.  Within a year’s time, I actualized the grace of God and began running.  Yet, over the course of the succeeding nineteen years, I have taken as many breaks from running and working out as I have maintained the routines.  Lately, on 27 February 2006, I joined the YMCA and started again.  Within two years, I diligently paid my membership fees via bank draft from my checking account but I had ceased my exercised regimen.  As I write in the fall of this year, I have begun to walk three times per week.  This time will be different however.  Where is the difference?  I have more patience that I had heretofore.

Practically speaking, I characterize patience as the ability to appreciate small gains.  Zechariah 4:10 says, “Who despises the day of small beginnings?”  Unless we are willing to start small and grow, we never zigzag meaningfully toward the big goals in life.  I could not previously maintain an exercise discipline because I lacked the patience to do so.  I viewed slow progress as failure.  I was not content to inch my way toward success.  I quickly became disillusioned with my physical fitness program and considered it as a waste of time.  So, I quit.  Quitters never win anything at all.  By the grace of Almighty God and practice through practicing spiritual disciplines, I now possess the patience to stick with my exercise routine.  Each time, I say aloud, “This time is going to be different.”  With each session, I offer thanks for the physical ability and privilege to go.  I realize that each session will move me further toward my goal.

Patience has an identical twin called perseverance.  Acquiring perseverance is non-negotiable as it relates to attaining success in life.  “Keep on keeping on!”  Practically, perseverance means showing up each day for life.  Good athletes and accomplished artists (fine and performing genres) cannot forsake nor underestimate the necessity of practice.  Daily practice is the place where one perseveres.  Sometimes, a football player may need to run a play a hundred times before he gets it right.  Even if he gets it wrong ninety-nine times, the fact that he will make the next attempt increases his chances of succeeding.  Had he stopped trying, then failure would be certain.