For the past six months, I have been doing something I never thought I would do.
I joined CrossFit.
Anyone who has spent much time around me probably knows just how surprising that sentence is. Saying I have never been much of a workout guy is a fairly significant understatement.
I do not exactly look like I belong there. But somehow, I actually enjoy it.
There is one small problem.
I am almost always sore.
One week it is my quads. The next it is my glutes. Then my arms. Some days, apparently just for efficiency, it is all of the above.
And yet I feel better than I have in a very long time.
That sounds a little backward. How can something that regularly makes you hurt also make you healthier?
Because not all pain is telling you to stop.
Some pain is evidence that something weak is getting stronger.
I think we forget that in the rest of life. We naturally avoid discomfort. Hard conversations. Discipline. Change. Admitting we were wrong. Letting go of something familiar. We assume pain means something has gone wrong.
Sometimes it does.
But sometimes pain is simply the feeling of growth.
Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
I am learning that soreness and injury are not the same thing.
Apparently that is true well beyond CrossFit.
Some pain needs healing. Some pain is helping.
Wisdom is learning the difference.
#FirstLight #Faith #Growth #Discipline #LifeLessons
First Light
www.firstlightblog.org
A daily reflection on faith, leadership, and life. One honest thought each morning to help you start grounded, focused, and full of grace before the world even wakes up.
By Nathan Clark