Putting In the Reps
On consistency and the lack thereof.
I, to put it mildly, am not a gym rat. I have a gym membership, but I seldom go. When I do go, I’ll huff and puff on the machines, curl a few dumbbells, and do the things that gym people do. I’ll go home, ache the next morning, and make precisely zero progress. My arms won’t be stronger, I won’t have magically developed six-pack abs during the night, and my fifty-something dad bod remains a fifty-something dad bod.
Why? Because I didn’t put in the reps.
If I made it a habit to go to the gym every day and hit the weights, I have no doubt I’d see progress. But I haven’t. Because a simple rule of life gets in my way: If I don’t put in the reps, I won’t make progress.
The same is true in other areas of my life. If I don’t tidy up every day, my office will become a mess. My skills at playing the mandolin will not develop by me staring at the instrument hanging on its hook. I won’t develop in my writing craft if I don’t apply butt to chair and write.
This week, I’m taking a couple days off work to attend a preaching workshop put on by the Simeon Trust. It’s been 13 years since I was a bivocational pastor, preaching every week. I don’t get opportunities to preach that often these days, but should the Lord provide me with one, I want to be ready, not rusty. So this week, I’m putting in the reps.
I’m trying to put in the reps in other areas as well. I’m currently rehabbing a frozen shoulder, so I’m making it a point to do the exercises every morning. I’m trying to publish something a couple times a week in this space, and get in the habit of pitching articles for publication in other media. (I just had a book review published by the Gospel Coalition, so things are in motion on that front!) I’m picking up my Greek New Testament more and more, trying to relearn a language I first learned 35 years ago. It’s tough work, but I’m determined.
In what areas or your life are you putting in the reps? How can we encourage each other?