GETTING YOUR STEPS IN
My son Ryan tricked me into buying a Garmin “watch.” It is a “watch” in that it tells time. The problem is that it also talks to my phone, keeps track of my location, tells me my altitude, and worst of all keeps track of how “many steps” I take. I mean I feel bad enough that I have not been in a gym in 30 years, that my exercise machine is now where we hang ironed clothes and that my pedal bike is strapped to the rafters in the garage, safely out of sight and out of mind. No, now I have to feel bad about how many steps I take every day.
And since the thing is on my wrist and actually buzzes for attention, I can’t ignore it like the pedal bike in the rafters. Not if I want to know what time it is, and if you know me, you know I have to know what time it is, so I am constantly looking at this “watch” and it is telling me how many steps I have or haven’t taken all day long. Anyway, it quickly became clear that the only logical thing to do was to sell it, so I tried. No luck. It seems Verizon gives “watches” that chart your activity away for free and everyone my age already has one they have locked away in a drawer somewhere and as a result no one wants to pay actual money for mine.
So, it appears I am stuck with this thing, and because I am an overachiever I now have to try and get my 10,000 steps in each day. The whole thing has become like a competition. Except it doesn’t make any sense because some days I get 4,000 steps and some days I get 10,000 and frankly I can’t figure out why. It seems to me like I am going the same places and doing the same things I always do, so why is there a 6,000 step difference some days?
By now you are probably wondering how any of this is spiritual and why you are reading it when you could be concentrating on getting your steps in? Well, this is why, some days I feel like praying and some days I don’t. Some days I have mustard seed faith and some days I don’t. And like the steps I take or don’t take each day, I don’t always know where my prayer and faith life is going to be from one day to the next.
It seems to me that our spiritual lives have seasons; seasons of growth, seasons of abundant life, seasons of rest, and other seasons that feel like the worst part of winter. Rationally it should be easy to get our steps in spiritually during periods of growth and abundant life and yet sometimes when I look at my spiritual “watch” I feel like I get more steps in during the harshest times of winter. Why is that? A long time ago I discovered that I, like many people, learn more from hardship than I do from comfort. And while my life is still a lot like a roller coaster, I have learned that the ups are still good, and the downs just aren’t as bad. It seems like everything has kind of levelled out.
It also seems clear to me that Prayer does not always have to be on your knees. I think the best prayer can be simple conversations as you drive or sit, or walk, with your Creator. Isn’t that an admission by itself of your faith? This walking, talking relationship with God? I still think prayer can be a time for stepping out and asking God for help for those you love. It can be a discussion with God about the future and your concerns for your children and grandchildren. It can be a time to express your worries about the state of the world. It can be a time to argue or cry out in anger, or it can be a time for gratitude, even if it is only that you are still stepping.
All of that is to say, all the faith you need is already present. Present no matter what your feelings are and present no matter how many steps you are getting in at that particular season of your spiritual life. So maybe our prayer for today doesn’t have to be about how to increase the number of steps we take today. Maybe our prayer today only needs to be about making sure that every step we take is a step in the right direction.
Brad