You Reap What You Sow

There is this guy who runs laps around our school and he always passes by my window. When he first started running like a year ago he was really fat. I'd say 5' 7" 250lbs. But I saw him the other day and he has really trimmed down. I'd say he lost about 90 pounds. He looked like a different person.

In a strange way I was really proud of this guy. I've watched him run diligently by my office for over a year now. And when I first saw him run I was thinking in my head, "That's not gonna help you bro." But he kept trodding along, his pace getting quicker, and now he has accomplished what he set out to do.

Then all of a sudden I kept thinking you reap what you sow. Or you get out of things what you put in. Like time in the gym. I see people go to the gym day after day, month after month, year after year, and they don't get stronger or bigger. Then you see other people who go in the gym and get down to business and after some time they start to look different. It's all about what you put in during the time you are there. If you go in there and just half ass it and waste time talking, your body won't change much. But if you go in there focused and lift with a lot of intensity, even a short 30 minute workout, couple days a week will change the way your body looks.

I think you can apply this philosophy to pretty much everything. Why do relationships seem so passionate at the beginning? Because the two people involved put so much time and effort into it. And because they put so much into it, they get a lot out of it. But overtime, the passion starts to fizzle, because neither are trying or putting much effort into their relationship anymore.

I've been thinking a lot about our church and why it doesn't grow. And I think it is for this same reason, because people aren't putting a lot into it. I think all of us are guilty of just doing the bare minimum. I know that in my own life, I've always done just the bare minimum. In high school, I did the bare minimum to get good grades. Usually putting everything off till the last moment and cramming tons of information into my head just to take a test, then quickly losing all the information right after. I did the same in college, and into my adult life. That's why I really haven't succeeded in much of anything.

In my spiritual life as well, I feel like I just barely get by. Doing the bare minimum QT, short prayers, Sunday ritual, and that's why I'm not growing. I admit that I'm being hard on myself, because I'm closer to God then I was 5 years ago, and maybe even a year ago. But it's pretty slow going.

It's funny it took this fat guy running around my office to wake me up and realize this. I really want to live life more focused and determined. I want to put more into all my relationships, I want to put more into church, more into my spiritual life, and more into just bettering myself. My life motto throughout my life was to just chill. But life is too short to just chill all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love chilling, and I 'm an extremely lazy person (just ask my wife) and this is not something that is going to change overnight. It's something that's ingrained deep into my personality. But I want to start living with more intensity and purpose. I want to take my mentality for working out into other facets of my life.

Thank you fat guy.