Spiritual muscles

I'd like to share a little encourarging nugget of truth here today. One I needed myself recently and hope to pass on! :)

In Sunday School yesterday, we were talking about the work of the Holy Spirit and how it convicts us. And how the more often we squelch that still small voice of guidance and direction and conviction, the harder it is to hear it.

It's like with working out. The more we say "I'm too tired" to go to the gym or "I don't feel like exercising today" the harder it will be to start it up again. I'm living proof of this - when I was out of my regular gym for almost two weeks (several days because Little Miss was sick, then for another 6 days while we were on vacation and then several days after vacation from recovering sunburns and catching up on life again) it was SO hard to go back and start the routine. I felt yucky and "fat" and not in the mood at all. Even though Hubby and I went to the gym two of the days we were on the cruise, it wasn't the same and it wasn't MY gym and MY routine. It was just different. And my motivation lacked from having given myself a free pass for so long.

The same with our spiritual lives. When we miss our quiet times with the Lord and miss reading our Bible for days and weeks at a time, we feel yucky. Different. Irritable. Not in the mood. It's like when you're bored, the less you do, the less you feel like doing. I'm a firm believer that accomplishment breeds more accomplishment.

So next time you feel too tired to read your Bible that day or not in the mood to pray or the next time you feel inclined to blow off church - reconsider. Because the daily choices we make eventually make up our lives. If we skip this Sunday, we might skip the next. And then the next and then we're out of church for 6 months.

I don't know about you, but I love the feeling of getting back into the gym and using my muscles and getting my blood flowing and feeling good about myself again physically. And I love the feeling of getting back into a spiritual routine that is uplighting and will carry me.

What about you? Have you been on the bench too long?