Strength

I've been thinking a lot lately about strength. There are a lot of people around us who need strength. I need strength. I have a few friends going through really tough stuff. One is dealing with cancer, one is dealing with a nasty divorce, one is dealing with parental issues, and many more have things in front of them that are just plain tough.

So I pray for them to have strength. I pray for me to have strength to help them carry their burdens. And then I pray for strength again.

I was driving the other day (shocker). When I turned the steering wheel, I remembered that I had worked out the previous morning. I was so sore. My rotator cuffs hurt, my triceps hurt, my biceps hurt and my shoulders hurt. Tuesday is arm day. Thursday is leg day. I can barely walk after leg day. Pitiful. But at this particular moment, while I was thinking praying for strength for my friends, I felt the twinge of sore muscles.

Then I thought: shouldn't we have to put forth some effort to get strength? Don't hear me say that the things people go through are from God, because I don't believe God does anything bad. I believe He is all good. Hear me say, that, just like in the natural, in the spiritual, we have to build our way up to new strengths.

I would be a fool to think I could go into the gym, lift 100 lbs and walk away. I'd probably drop it, and trip and fall, or something equally as embarrassing.

We have to build our ways up to more weight. We have to work at it. We have to toil. We have to sweat. We have to give up good sleep to get up early and work out. We have to put forth effort. Did you know that your muscles actually get small tears in them when you work out? Yeah, they do. And then from there, they grow from flab to muscle.

It's like praying for patience. I don't do it because when I do, inevitably, I will get stuck in traffic.

We should pray for strength when we need it, and even when we don't need it. It is a good thing to do, yet we need to remember that God won't just give us large muscles we didn't work for. Sometimes we have situations in front of us that require immeasurable strength. We should pray for strength, but we should also expect to have to put in a little effort to get the strength we want.

It's a two way street. If I want strength, I have to pick up some weights.