Wax on. wax off.
It's offseason time. Training period. To start it off, I had the honorable task of washing four cars yesterday. Under the orders of dad. Well, not that I had much to do anyway so I was not really complaining. Apart from finishing my Smallville Season 3 as well as a couple of dvds. Later, I realised how unfit I am after months of putting my running sneakers aside. Doing 5km in a modest 30 minutes suddenly takes it toil on you. But I gotta start somewhere.
I'm going to be 25 later this year. My body signals to me that I'm not what I once was. What was so easy to achieve last time requires a significantly greater amount of training and preparation to sustain results. Not only that but higher levels of self-control and discipline as well. Our journey to maturation is perilous should we choose to ignore these alarm bells. I simply cannot go into a marathan with naivety that it is something I can just jump in and breeze through. The same goes for life. That I discovered through my experience of pain in my quads and hamstrings right now.
I turned on the style as I took my physical training to the highest floor in Paragon! I enjoyed a panoramic view of Orchard Road between my pull-ups. It was a day of recollection and reconciliation for me as I met up with four different people - church-visiting with my pal felix from uni (i slept through the sermon titled "How to affairproof your marriage"), an old friend from sydney whom I lost contact for a while and celebrated the birthday of my secondary school mate with liquor and shots. Indeed, an extraordinary time for me as space was made to reconnect with the unique moments shared a while ago and using these common grounds to shoot us into a future where we can hope for more glorious experiences. Filled with faith, hope and love.
Ahh... there is nothing like exploring the depths of a person's heart in conversations. I just try to open and authentic as I listened to their stories. Stories like dedicating a semester to serve God and church by investing a day a week in ministry, the opportunity to mentor 8 people! (my jaws dropped hearing that commitment), plans to work for Google, frustration at playing the love game in the initial stages (I offered some advice there. Apparently it proved comforting) and just the plain mundaneness of turning up for work everyday. Indeed, we are individuals created differently and wonderfully.
I feel again the pull to discipline myself in a moment of my life where it is so easy to be rest on my laurels and be complacent. Most notable the commitment to spiritual formation. Words from two great spiritual sages of our time continue to ring in my mind:
Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself."
Dallas Willard
God the Holy Spirit conceiving and forming the life of Christ … our spirits formed by Spirit." … living out of a center from within, not from outside. Spiritual formation is about holiness, living a holy life."
Eugene Peterson
It is much easier to exhibit noble qualities (or so it seems) on the outside. But for most of us, we find as time goes on, that those coverings tend to fade and what is within begin to manifest itself. So as much as I love to admire my pecs and biceps and all, there are shouts from the inside for a renovation. The dusty room needs a refurbishment. I need salvation.
Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.
Ahh... there is nothing like exploring the depths of a person's heart in conversations. I just try to open and authentic as I listened to their stories. Stories like dedicating a semester to serve God and church by investing a day a week in ministry, the opportunity to mentor 8 people! (my jaws dropped hearing that commitment), plans to work for Google, frustration at playing the love game in the initial stages (I offered some advice there. Apparently it proved comforting) and just the plain mundaneness of turning up for work everyday. Indeed, we are individuals created differently and wonderfully.
I feel again the pull to discipline myself in a moment of my life where it is so easy to be rest on my laurels and be complacent. Most notable the commitment to spiritual formation. Words from two great spiritual sages of our time continue to ring in my mind:
Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself."
Dallas Willard
God the Holy Spirit conceiving and forming the life of Christ … our spirits formed by Spirit." … living out of a center from within, not from outside. Spiritual formation is about holiness, living a holy life."
Eugene Peterson
It is much easier to exhibit noble qualities (or so it seems) on the outside. But for most of us, we find as time goes on, that those coverings tend to fade and what is within begin to manifest itself. So as much as I love to admire my pecs and biceps and all, there are shouts from the inside for a renovation. The dusty room needs a refurbishment. I need salvation.
Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.
1 Tim 4:7-9
Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off...
G