New Habits, Part 1

Over the past few months, while my writing has been sparse but my guitar playing has been constant, I’ve been challenged with new habits.  My devotional life had fallen into a bit of a rut and I had fallen out of regular physical workouts – whether running or lifting weights.

Then at breakfast one day immediately after our Thursday morning men’s group earlier this summer, one of the guys mentioned that he had started to run along the path adjacent to the beach a couple of mornings per week.  I immediately said I would join him twice a week – and started with him the next morning at 6 am.  We started to meet regularly on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6 am, running and walking a couple of miles and doing some hill climbs as part of the trail.  As the sun started to rise earlier, we brought out our flashlights, then decided to shift to workouts at the gym – with some higher intensity weight training.

We started at 6 am…but quickly realized we didn’t have sufficient time when both of us needed to help get the kids to school.  We rolled back to meeting at 5:15 am, added in a Wednesday workout as well, taking a break on Thursdays so we could get in a Spiritual workout in our men’s group.

These new habits have led to changes in our lives as we have become physically stronger. Both of us are now lifting a little more weight, with a little more speed.  Our weight has begun to tick downward.  And our conversations have begun to change as we not only keep each other accountable in our physical workouts, but also in the spiritual.

We recognized that part of becoming spiritually healthier includes becoming physically healthier.

It’s a new habit that could not have happened without that accountability.  And we are now stronger for it.