Recently a men's group started up at our church. The topic of study is the spiritual disciplines. Disciplines we should turn to when needing to get closer to, and understand more of, God. The book we're following is Richard Foster's "
Celebration of Discipline". Awesome book, i tell ya'!
What has struck me as highly ironic is, when i look at my own attempts at these discipline, how closely my dedication to them falls directly in line with my disciplines for running.
i know i've posted before about how close my running experience is to my faith and how they pretty much go hand-in-hand for me, meaning as i slide in one, i slide in the other. As i go farther in one, i go farther in the other (pun intended). i don't like that i do that but there it is. However, what i'm REALLY liking is as we're going through these spiritual disciplines, i'm seeing just how similar they are to those we, as runners, follow. I'm listing here just a few of those that have particularly been rattling about in this little ol' pea-brain of mine:
Meditation: Spiritual: Finding a passage, a verse or even a single word in the Bible that jumps out at me and centering my thoughts on it throughout day. Focusing on why it touched me, how it makes me feel, where am i in my belief of it, etc...
Running: Just before taking off (particular in a race). Centering my thoughts on the distance, the course, the pace i want to set, how i'm feeling, where am i hurting, calming my nerves, the training i did leading up to this particular, run, etc....
Fasting: Spiritual: The idea here being to separate myself from the thing(s) that can often replace God in my life and focus on replacing it WITH God.
Running: Obvious. Removing certain foods or liquids from my diet that harm my body and replacing them with healthier options.
Study: Spiritual: Here, i'm not just reading the Bible. i'm also pulling in other writings, ideas, etc... that dive deeper into whatever passages i'm interested in at the time. i'm looking for more insight, guidance or explanation to what i'm reading.
Running: Reading my subscription to Runner's World.
runnersworld.com ,
RunnerDude, books by George Sheehan, or books on the Badwater UltraMarathon...the list is endless. Of course, the idea being that the more i read of others' experience and advice, the better i'll do.
I'll stop at this point because 1) the list is amazingly extensive and, 2) well, that as far as we've gotten in the study so far. :))
Admittedly, if i had to make the decision to replace my running with God, i would have a really, REALLY hard time with making that decision. As long as i keep the right perspective on it all, i'm hoping it never gets to that point. Besides, the invitation stands that whenever He wants to lace up His Nikes and join me, He's always welcome....or would He prefer New Balance? (
get it? "balance"? Faith and running? "BALANCE?"...okay, maybe it's only funny to me)
i appreciate you hanging in this long and i certainly hope that whichever of these areas, or any other you're interested in, that you are finding the discipline(s) you need to help you grow deeper in it.
God Bless and Happy Running!
