Exercise

At church we recently had a discussion about growing spiritually. We talked about how developing spiritual qualities is similar to physical growth. I could relate to the topic, and it was extremely thought-provoking.

Strengthening muscles in our body requires effort. We lift, push, and pull weights to cause our skeletal muscles to grow. We strengthen our heart muscle by forcing it to work faster and harder through physical exertion. Our muscles only grow when they are used and when they are tested. 

Spiritual "muscles" also need consistent use and "exercise" in order to stay strong and become stronger. If we are going to pray and ask for greater faith, we should recognize that in order to develop more faith, God may require us to pass through a trial. If we desire greater charity, God may give us a challenging person to work with. Our Father will give us the challenges we need to exercise the spiritual muscles we need to develop. Would it be in our best interest to pray for a specific spiritual exercise to help with spiritual development? It would certainly take a lot of faith to request such a growth opportunity. 

About three years ago, I trained for and ran a half marathon. I was in great shape that summer, and I also did a lot of hiking. I even climbed the Grand Teton! Shortly thereafter, I became pregnant, and I still strived to stay in shape. After I got big, running was uncomfortable, but I still went to the gym regularly to do less impactful exercise. I was in pretty good shape when I had the baby, and six weeks later, I started running again. 

Then I stopped. As much as I enjoyed running, I found it difficult to dedicate any time to it because I was trying to finish up a huge project for my degree. I thought I would get back to running as soon as the project was over, but then it was winter. The following spring, summer, and fall I took the baby on long walks as my only exercise, and then it was winter again. I figured I was getting enough physical activity - and that I had enough karma from past running commitment and dedication - that I could easily get back into running whenever I wanted. I did some squats and yoga at home every once in a while to feel like I was exercising. In the back of my mind, I wanted to run a half marathon again. It seemed like a realistic idea. 

I didn't realize how much running stamina and muscle mass I had lost until this spring when I finally felt really motivated one day, and I tried to go running. I got so winded after a short distance. My lower back started hurting. It was exhausting and very discouraging. I took some time off from running and went back to long walks with the baby. 

I was praying about something else - seemingly unrelated - and I felt a strong impression that I needed to get in better physical shape. I started to set goals to make small changes, like planning meals to include more fruits and vegetables. I made a point to drink more water. These little changes helped motivate me to do more to improve my physical health.

Finally, after a few weeks, I made a commitment to get back in to "running shape". I wanted to train for a longer race, and I wanted to use my half marathon training schedule from before. Looking at the schedule, I recognized that if I tried to jump in and progress too quickly, I would be prone to injury. It was going to be a slow process, and I finally acknowledged it.  I bought new running shoes. I renewed our rec center membership. I found an eight-week beginner running program. This program started out with alternating running and walking. It slowly worked up to more running and less walking. After eight weeks, a person would be able to run for thirty minutes. It was kind of a personal embarrassment to stoop to this level compared to running thirteen miles in 2016. After working through that program, it was summer time. I maintained short, easy runs, and I started to add strength training. I took a weight room orientation and started to lift weights. I was super sore after my first time because I overdid it. I started eating more protein. Towards the end of the summer, I finally started working through a race training schedule. 

All this is to say that I'm finally feeling like I'm getting back in shape. I'm finally feeling more capable physically. It has taken months from the time I was ready to take action to get to the point where running feels good again. Once again, there is such a thing as an easy run vs a hard run in my training. This improvement has been a process of setting small goals, sticking to them (or sometimes regressing, regrouping, and retrying), and slowly adding on more. 

This process can apply to us spiritually as well. Sometimes, we have times in our life where we achieve spiritual highs. We have experiences that stretch us, and we rely heavily on God. We commune with Him. We try to please Him. We study His word. We develop attributes that bring us closer to Him. We feel humbled, there is love in our hearts, and we want to help others. We sacrifice our time to give service to family, friends, and strangers. 

If we don't maintain our relationship with God, we can lose focus. We can lose that connection. Our prayers become weak. Our thoughts become selfish. Our feelings toward others become spiteful and unkind. We are prone to discouragement, distress, and despair. False doctrine abounds in the world, and when we decline spiritually, it is harder to firmly identify with truths we once believed with conviction. This decline can happen to us gradually, and we often don't realize it. We make poor choices. When we finally decide that is is time to "step it up" and "get back in shape" spiritually, we can become discouraged if we compare our past relationship with our God and our former beliefs to our current stagnated state. 

Six months ago, if I had tried to go out and run several miles, I would have sustained an injury. Now it is doable. Likewise, it can be very disorienting and discouraging to try to push into deep, difficult spiritual questions and wrestle with God when you are in a big spiritual slump to begin with. When our relationship with God is at a low point, we tend to question even our most basic beliefs. We may wonder if some of our religious convictions and commitments are even valid or worth holding on to.

The best thing we can do when we find ourselves floundering spiritually is to start where we are. Make small, basic changes. Go slowly and add one more thing at a time. Start with meditation. Reduce worldly media consumption; cut back on social media, television, movies, internet surfing. Take a break from media that you wouldn't let a child watch, read, or listen to. Try to have more meaningful prayers. Dedicate some time each day to read the scriptures. Serve your family. Try to think and say kind things about others. Write your feelings in a journal. Spend some time alone. Study God's commandments and make necessary adjustments. Be in nature and ponder. Attend church. Look around for others you can help. Pray to know who you should reach out to and serve, and then pay attention to the thoughts and ideas that come to mind. Write the thoughts down, and act on them. 

Actions like this help us build up our spiritual stamina over time. It may take months to work yourself up to feel better spiritually - to become more capable of understanding God's plan for you and recognizing His guiding hand in your life. Once we have built up some spiritual stamina, we are in a better place to ask for help to develop spiritually in more specific areas. We can repent of past mistakes that burden us. We can pray for feedback about what more He would have us improve. We are in a better place to study and pray about some of the more difficult spiritual questions - the stuff that is harder to understand. 

I'm personally working on building up more stamina to reach the fitness I'm lacking both physically and spiritually. 

It is hard. It takes work. It takes time and patience. Physical progress can be measured in terms of how much I can do or how far I can go. Spiritual progress is harder to measure objectively. But we can feel better physically and spiritually over time as we do the things that will strengthen our "muscles". We can find peace and satisfaction with our efforts.  

Sunflowers on a long run

Yogurt

I saw this proclamation on my yogurt. I thought, "They want a gold star for this?"

The message is that eating yogurt that was processed from milk that was produced by cows that consumed food that was not genetically modified is noteworthy. 

A marketing statement like this implies that any connection whatsoever to anything genetically modified must be unhealthy, but it doesn't give further information. This message influences consumers' opinion of the product without presenting any background facts. Consumers are influenced by messages about what is healthy or not, but do we take the time to do actual research or form our own opinions?

It's like how you'll find "gluten-free" labels on foods that are obviously not glutenous in any way shape or form (e.g. milk). Some people assume that since since gluten-free foods are highly sought out by some people - you know, like people who are allergic to gluten - that they must be more desirable. And gluten-free food is often more expensive, so it must be better in some way. They conclude that it must be healthier. When food companies plaster gluten-free labels all over the packaging, they send a message to uninformed consumers that gluten is inherently bad.  

The point is that we need to get the information from sources other than marketing. As consumers, we have the responsibility to search out correct information about food from sources that don't have an ulterior motive. We need to make conscious, informed choices about what foods are acceptable, rather than following the messages on our food packaging.

A Little Less Waste Around Here

I started using reusable grocery bags. Here is my assessment:

Pros: 

They fit so many more items! They are stronger and larger than plastic, so you can fill them up. This means fewer trips back and forth from the car to the house. Things fit better in the car. 

I don't have to throw away single-use plastic bags by the dozens! We use them as garbage liners, so previously I was saving them, but my container would get full. It would start to overflow, and I would still save them. Finally, it would get out of control, and I would end up tossing bags full of bags into the trash. It felt wasteful. Now I just have a few bags to deal with, and they fold for easy storage. 

Gas points! At our Smith's grocery store, they give away gas points as "green bag points". Since we like to use gas points to save money on fuel, this is an awesome bonus. 

Cons: 

Sometimes I forget to bring the bags into the store with me. Especially the first few times. I keep them in the car to help with that. It's getting better though, and I remember more times than I forget. 

Reusable bags cost money. About 99 cents for the cheaper ones. I guess that's a downside, considering the plastic ones are free. I do have a couple that were free. Free ones are fine as long as you don't mind the attendant logo (I have one from my OB/GYN office, no big deal).

My dearest husband gave me a weird look when I broke the news to him about my new behavior. Maybe he thought I was giving in to a fad. He has tried it, though, and I think he agrees with some of my observations. 

But you probably won't see him at Smith's with the OB/GYN bag.