Week 5 devotional
Mike Geide
Last week was the halfway mark on our “Bare Your Souls” running community journey … so I thought it would be fitting to discuss “Recovery” as our theme for today. In the past (and if I’m honest, sometimes presently) I have had the mindset of “no pain, no gain” in my training, sometimes going against last week’s theme of “patience,” where I’d over-train or double-up on workouts to try and speed up results … all the while overlooking or just plain ignoring “recovery.” This is a recipe for injury, burn-out, is not sustainable, and leads to frustration and disappointment. I have since learned first-hand that “good recovery” is vital to healthy physical fitness -- in fact, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, and numerous other pro athletes have been quoted that they spend as much, if not more, time focused on their recovery than on their actual workouts; and studies have shown that it is while you are sleeping, not the workout, that the greatest muscle growth occurs from your training efforts.
I had a running coach who would tell me: “trust the training [plan]” and “patience with the process” – interesting word choices … recall week 3’s theme: “trust” in Jesus as our guide and week 4 theme of “patience” of bearing things with grace in accordance with God’s will and time. This week is a reminder that God does and will direct us to rest, recover, and use the help He delivers to us in order to grow.
We see “recovery” as vital with mental fitness as well … when I need to be well prepared for a presentation at work (or a test back when I was a student), I would ensure to give myself a good review session of the material before bed and then focus on getting a good night’s sleep … while asleep, my brain would figure things out for the next day. Spending all-night cramming without recovery time usually led to brain fog versus a GPA boost (but note fellow test-takers: recovery does mean that you are recovering from something … if you haven’t put forth the effort, recovery is a moot point).
Good recovery is also true for spiritual well-being … and we see this mentioned a lot in Scripture ... the Sabbath is a day of “rest” after-all. To name a few passages: the popular Psalm 23 states, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul”; Matthew 11 states, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”; and in last week’s Mark 6 Gospel, after the Apostles returned from journeying out in pairs to teach, heal, and perform works in the name of Jesus … when they returned Jesus told them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” And we see this in Jesus’ humanity as well where He models this by taking needed breaks to be alone, reflect, and pray to the Father … we see this throughout His ministry and in the Garden of Gethsemane leading up to His death. The results of these spiritual recovery sessions are often renewed strength of will (or fortitude – week 2’s theme) and in some cases other blessings or Gifts of the Holy Spirit needed in that moment (e.g., wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel).
Thinking that you can “bear it all” without recovery or God’s help is rooted in pride and can cause spiritual injury. Have trust and patience in His “training” plan for us; which includes “recovery.” In today’s fast-paced life-styles we may rush and contact-switch from work commitments, to family commitments, to extracurriculars, and religious services … all without taking the time to remove all distraction and “rest” with the Lord. Do not overlook or ignore the power of prayer and spiritual reflection in your life. To grow, we must humbly go into our Garden to be alone with God, admit our weaknesses, and seek His salvation so that we can be rested and recovered to “begin again”, “do the next right thing”, and “Bare our Souls” for Christ.