Apples to Oranges

The Second Week of Advent

Setting out for some hill work, for long runs, for more interval workouts, I’ve continued to ponder this question of effort in running and in the spiritual life and why it is that I seem more willing to go for it and push myself when it comes to running, but seem to content myself with only small baby steps when it comes to my spiritual life and being a better human being overall. (read last week’s entry)

As I thought about this more, I started to realize I was comparing apples to oranges. Yes, it is true that when I set out to run intervals as I did this week, I find it challenging and need to work myself up to it and push through and keep going when my legs start to ache from the effort. But after I finish the mile, I can stop, rest, recover before setting out again. And after I’m done with all the intervals, I’m done for that week. Sure, there might be another challenging run that week, sure, there’ll be another round of intervals the following week, but these bursts of intense effort are just that: bursts.

But, when thinking about the spiritual life, I was thinking about efforts that meant undertaking or pursuing spiritual practices such as prayer, or improving such desirable qualities such as kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness, all of which require persistent vigilance (good to do in Advent I admit), ongoing dedication—not bursts of effort here and there.

Apples to oranges.

So, I thought, what in the spiritual life would be more comparable to those bursts of intense effort I pour into my interval runs or hill repeats? It would be akin to those flashes of inspiration that prompt us to act to act with extra kindness, or generosity, or thoughtfulness, etc, for that one moment. Its akin to me sitting at my desk and thinking “it’s Wednesday. There’s evening Mass today. I could go.” But, I hadn’t planned to go, and had been looking forward to spending my evening doing something else. This unbidden thought persisted, so I re-arranged my evening, and went to Mass. And it was a good thing. But it was a spur of the moment, burst of effort—I didn’t commit to going to daily Mass every day of Advent; I didn’t commit to anything more than just going to Mass that day, just making this one effort, this one day.

And as all these thoughts percolated in my mind, I came to a new realization. Just as those bursts of efforts have a place in my training and are one of the factors that are helping me become a better runner, these bursts of effort can also have a place in the spiritual life and help us become better human beings. Because I admit, maybe I didn’t commit to going to daily Mass in Advent, but, going this one time did get me thinking about it and I know its very likely I’ll end up going every Wednesday of Advent. And I’ll benefit from it. Because just as those bursts of speed are meant to gradually translate into increased speed at every distance, those bursts of positive responses, those impromptu ‘yeses’ to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, also in time translate into an overall disposition that is more likely to say ‘yes’ than ‘no’ to all God’s invitations, both big and small.

What small, impromptu invitation from the Spirit have you experienced this week? How did you respond? How do you wish you had responded?