The Spiritual Weight Room

As another new year approaches, I am again bombarded with healthy recipes, sales on diet supplements, and quick fix exercise plans on my newsfeed and in my inbox. I read the public resolutions folks make to eat less, move more, and improve a myriad of personal flaws. And I just. Don't. Get. It.

I've never been someone who starts over on Monday, or vows to eat better "tomorrow". I only have this day, and it is far too short and precious to either beat myself up over mistakes, or miss opportunities to exercise my body, mind, and spirit.

You might think that's all fine and well for Miss Fitness to preach, but what do I really know about the struggle? About your personal struggles - not much. However, I can tell you what mine have taught me and maybe something will resonate.

The more I think about my prayer life as a weight room, the more sense it makes. The inertia, the setbacks, the one-step-forward-two-steps-back feelings. Also the joy and inner peace that hard, sweaty, uncomfortable work brings.

What lifting weights has taught me about prayer is this:
- You don't quit simply because results aren't immediately apparent.
- Overcoming inertia when you are out of shape is HARD.
- It can be so discouraging, especially in the beginning, when all you feel is soreness and burning lungs and self consciousness, and maybe your loved ones don't support you or care. You see no end to the suffering, you see no fruits from your labor. But go back into that weight room you must.
- Those first days back HURT so much. Actually, it is always going to hurt, at least a little.
- If it isn't uncomfortable, you need to check yourself and dig deeper until it is.
- It is much easier to stay "fit" than to visit the gym in random, guilt-ridden spurts.
-Results don't appear and gains don't stick if you aren't consistent.
- It is madness to train toward some goal and then stop when you get there. Exercise and prayer don't work like that. This battle will NEVER end. There is no rest till we die!
- It doesn't matter if you don't feel like doing it. You do it anyway.
- Guilt and fear can be powerful drivers, but a LOVE for what you are doing will make it a life long pursuit. It might take ages to get to that point but....what else are you doing that is more important?
- When you hear an inner voice correcting you ("kneel DOWN when you pray!" or, "it's time to put more plates on that bar"), DO IT. Don't hesitate. It is hard at first, but obeying that still, small voice - the one asking you to take the path of most resistance - is leading you to great holiness. And buffness? Maybe both. Sweet.

Do you have to choose the exercise plan that will take up loads of time, require lots of equipment, and wear down your body to the point of injury? Nope. You also don't have to commence a prayer life with daily rosaries. Take it from a total spiritual slacker: giving 15 focused minutes a day to the God of the Universe who lowered Himself and took on flesh to save me from death sometimes seems like.....too much. Pathetic, I know, but I am a weakling in the spiritual weight room. I have to start light and work my way up. An, "I love you, Jesus!" here, a, "have mercy on me, a sinner!" there, is sometimes all I muster in a day. But pray daily, I must. I must also obey - instantly - that small voice that calls me gently but firmly to better myself. To pray an extra Hail Mary, just because. To run for an extra minute even when my lungs are screaming. To pick up the rosary when I feel spiritually dry and physically exhausted.

This isn't a resolution for the New Year, or for next week, or for Monday. This is stuff for NOW because the present is all we have. It is the most deadly serious business, and it doesn't respect your calendar.