No, I'm not frustrated with Christmas. At the age of 60, Christmas isn't what it was when I was 6, but it's still a special day. We'll get together with our grown kids and their kids and celebrate with family time, food, and a few presents in the stockings. It may or may not be happening today, because juggling the works schedules of five different households is tricky. But on this morning we're either getting ready for the get together to happen soon, or we're basking in the warm holiday memories of the recent gathering.
But yes, I will be frustrated a tiny bit this morning. What I'd really like to do on a day off is to get up early and be at the door of the ARC (the local gym) as soon as it opens.
But it's closed on Christmas. Imagine that.
This is very much unlike the person I used to be. In my younger years I was all about sleeping in as long as I could whenever I could. I was very much frustrated if I didn't get to spend as much time as I liked lounging around on a comfy couch or in a favorite easy chair, reading a book or watching TV.
But then I started going to the ARC, because all that laziness was ruining my health.
At first it was extremely difficult to sustain the habit of working out. I'd drag myself there, unless I found some excuse - any excuse - to skip a day.
The thing is, the more you habitually exercise, the more your body longs for it. As I got used to the routine of working out at the gym every Wednesday & Thursday and Saturday & Sunday, my entire schedule started to revolve around that routine.
And even beyond the routine, I found myself desiring that workout in situations I never would have imagined during my sedentary years.
When I feel myself starting to get sick, the first thing that pops into my head is this: I need to get to the ARC. Many times I've actually warded off a minor sickness just by sweating it out of my body.
When I feel myself descending into a blue funk, depressed and listless, I know the best thing for me is to head to the ARC. The body chemicals that drag me into depression are highly vulnerable to a muscle-stretching, heart-pounding workout.
Even on the days that my 60-year-old body, with its deteriorating knee and imperfect lungs and aging heart, is incapable of lasting very long at the gym, I'm still glad I went. My wife and I will confess to each other that we just didn't have the stamina or strength today, but, "at least we went."
Have you developed a habit of exercising your mind in the Word? The sort of habit that makes you eager to do it again, habitually?
Are you so into your routine with God's scriptures that you find yourself frustrated when other things interfere with your scheduled time in the Word?
Just like training your physical body to need that regular strenuous exercise, you can train your soul and spirit to need scheduled strenuous time in the Word. The sort of time in the Bible when you combine the heavy lifting of going deep into books like Romans and Jeremiah, but also the familiar, heart-pounding pace of re-reading the Psalms and the Gospels.
The New Year is coming. But don't wait until next week to get started with training yourself to eagerly desire the Word of God.
If you're like most people, you're going to have more down time than usual today and throughout the coming week. You can use it to catch up on the shows you've been wanting to binge-watch on Netflix. That can be fun. But you can also use it to binge-read your way through the New Testament or through the books of Poetry.
Take some time to figure out what your schedule is going to be for the intensive Bible workouts you need. Enter that schedule on your Outlook calendar, or whatever you use to keep track of your other important appointments.
Get up off the comfortable couch you've allowed your spiritual life to settle for, and prepare yourself for the adventures God has in store for you this next year.
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