Christianity and gymnastics

I was watching a gymnastics class last week and had a lesson brought home to me.

I am always, of course, amazed at what these girls (and boys) can do. I have never been that flexible and probably never will be. Gymnasts can bend and roll and balance and stretch in marvelous ways.

But during practice I noticed some of the girls having trouble with the skills they were practicing. They couldn't quite get their cartwheels up straight, or they couldn't quite flip themselves up and over the bar. Or they'd get half way around and get stuck upside down.

The problem, I realized, was one of commitment. Now don't get me wrong. These girls are committed to gymnastics. They show up week after week and do the drills and the stretches. They do their best to follow their coaches' instructions. They are committed to their sport.

But some of them don't seem to understand that to fully accomplish their skills, they need to throw themselves into the movement. They need speed. They need to abandon themselves to the forces controlling their bodies.

Do they understand centrifugal force and gravity and range of motion? I doubt it. But the bold and the fearless master their skills quickly while the timid girls simply don't build up the momentum to carry them through the skill. And so they struggle, trying to do it themselves, within the boundaries of what they are comfortable with and don't take advantage of the possibilities available to them. They actually make it harder with their reservations about committing to their flights across the mats, around the bars and through the air.

How many Christians are guilty of the same thing? We go to church every Sunday. We have our times of Bible reading and prayer. We give to the needy or help our neighbors. But somehow we feel we are struggling in our faith or in our impact for God's kingdom.

Is it possible that it's our reservations that are holding us back? We're worried that God will ask us to do something that goes too fast or where we can't see the end result or that will feel "out of control". So we hang back, not fully committing to whatever God is asking us to do. We stay in our comfort zone and the limits of what we understand. And because we do, we never experience the thrill of achieving great things for God.

Maybe its time to abandon ourselves to God's way. It may feel like we're on our heads instead of our heels sometimes but when we trust ourselves to God's plan, we'll be able to do "more than we ask or imagine." It's time to commit, not just to the sport, but to the possibilities.