So I started taking a spin class. If you’re clueless as to what that is, let me first tell what it should be. It should be what our government now uses for torture. If they aren’t they are missing a wonderful opportunity here. What it actually is instead is something people, mostly women choose to torture themselves with. It is where you go into a little room, climb on to a bicycle seat that no behind other than some little toddlers should be sitting on, and then your expected to keep your legs moving in perpetual forward motion for the next hour, all while going absolutely nowhere. I mean for a solid hour you listen to music, are told what to do, you go up hill, down hill, stand up, sit down, ride…ride…ride…and you go absolutely nowhere. What?! Who thought of this?! And what idiot does it?! Apparently more than you would think. And I have just joined the ranks. So, here is what my last three weeks of “spin” class have taught me.
1- Take life in intervals-
For most of the class I am telling myself over and over “You can do anything for three and a half minutes”. Because that is how long a song is. So, instead of staring at the clock-which I did the first week…dumb…dumb and dumber… I know spend my time counting the songs. And when I’m only ten minutes into the class and begin thinking “There is no way I can push my legs around in a circle one more time” I go to a different mindset and begin to say, “You can do this for one more song.” Life is a lot like that. Some days all you need to think about is the moment you are in. And all you need to do is focus on getting through that moment. Don’t worry about the moment coming up. You’re not there yet. Here is where you are. Get through this one and then take the next one when it comes.
2- It’s only an hour of your life.
That is what gets me there. Honestly, if I didn’t remind myself of that I wouldn’t go at all, because when you’re in there it feels like the whole “a day is like a thousand years” thing. Philly and I were talking the other day about it almost being a year since we’ve gotten married. And I said, “You know I can’t believe this year has gone by so fast and that there were days in this year that felt like
they would never end.” But nothing lasts forever. In the light of eternity even our difficulties and struggles are going to look so temporary. So, next time you’re in a difficult season tell yourself, “In the grand scheme of things this is only an hour of my life.”
3- A good instructor helps.
There are two instructors I just love. I mean, one makes me laugh, and the other just plays the best music. The people we travel this life with and those who help guide and shape our hearts- pastors, Bible study leaders, spouses, friends, counselors, they can make all the different. Choose wisely.
4- A song can make all the difference.
Have you ever thought about how much music plays in our memories and lives. It’s like Trisha Yearwood’s “The song remembers when”. They do. And they are powerful. When my one instructor plays Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” as the last song of our workout, it just motivates me to push as hard as I can. While there was a song that played the other day that I thought was I was going to have to run down the hall screaming before I could get through it. So, pick good music. Sing often. You won’t regret it.
Finally- Just because it doesn’t look like you’re moving doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.
There are some seasons in life, when on the scale of “accomplishing things” it doesn’t look like you’re needle has left zero. But yet it could be a season where your capacity is being enlarged. Your heart is being strengthened and your muscles are getting a workout. On the scale of the world’s measure of “doing things” it might not look like I’m “doing” much. But what I do know is that God has stretched me in this last year more than I think he has ever stretched me before. Or maybe like the pain of birthing a baby, it’s just more than I remember. So, don’t curse the seemingly lack of movement. Because, trust me. I’ve seen more change in my body in that one hour of peddling that non-moving bike than I’ve ever had doing anything else.
So, if you hear someone grunting and groaning like a ninety year old it’s probably me….but I’m here to tell you, it might be because of all that grunting and groaning that I actually see 90!