Shall I be a bit honest this morning? I entered the work week a bit discouraged. Depressed. It was not clear exactly why, but I was just down. There were a bunch of suspects to blame, but that is not important. What I knew to be true was this:  I had really enjoyed the festive celebrations of the holidays (aka lots of great food), and I had not been in the pool for a couple of weeks. That wasn’t entirely my fault, the coach had cancelled a couple of classes, and I wasn’t going to miss the family during the holidays.

So extra food and extra laziness.  Hmm…that is a dangerous combination. But on Wednesday, the master’s swim class was back on, and I trudged down the hill to torture myself for an hour in the pool. Yes, it’s a bit chilly to swim at 6:30 pm these days. And dark. But I’ve been sticking it out. Now if I could just stop complaining about the slightly cool water for the first six laps or so, I’d be pleased with myself.

Anyway, there weren’t many participants on Wednesday, so I got my own lane. A rare luxury and meaningless to the point I want to make. But I could swim at my own pace (supersonic, of course) and enjoyed the lap after lap after lap. Well, the cramps weren’t a highlight.

Back to my point. I finished the swim and got changed and headed back up the hill. You know what? I felt amazing. A little less intake and a lot more exertion, and I was out of the doldrums. I was refreshed.

So, my question is this:  if I know what makes me feel better, why don’t I do it? Why do I default to “lazy” when lazy brings doldrums? But even more important is, why do I default to lazy in my spiritual life to the point of drifting away from God? We (I) know what to do to grow in my walk with Jesus. But I don’t always do what I know I should do. Right?

I know what draws me near to my God, but I don’t draw near. I’m not saying that we must “do” to impress God. No way. But I am saying that to grow in my spiritual life requires some attention to detail and to the habits which foster spiritual growth. But I get lazy sometimes. I drift. I wander. With so many days left in this new year, let’s commit to encourage each other to good works. To grow. To be disciplined in our spiritual lives. Because that will reap fruit far beyond a diet and a few more laps in the pool. Though that fruit ain’t so bad either.