After the Thrill is Gone
As important as measuring progress is for newcomers, it’s even more important for CrossFit and Church veterans.
Consider this scenario:
Hank shows up at the Wooly-Mammoth Church for the first time knowing he needs to make some serious changes in his life. After attending for a few months he buys into Wooly-Mammoth’s Mission and Vision and becomes a regular participant in the usual church activities. After six months he is being transformed in dramatic and obvious ways to those closest to him. He no longer has violent nightmares. He’s started doing nice things for his cantankerous neighbor. He’s even stopped watching reality TV. His wife notices a difference in his attitude. His buddies can tell that something has changed.
The change seen in new Christians their first few months of following Jesus can be staggering. But at some point, the changes become less drastic, and less noticeable. Hank’s new way of life will eventually become business as usual. Then what? What will keep him from being just another bored church member after the initial thrill is gone?
Could it be that one of the reasons red-hot new Christians cool off and wander away is that after they make some huge initial changes, they lose focus and motivation because there is no way to measure their progress in the more subtle areas of spiritual fitness?
This is an important issue in CrossFit as well. Once an athlete loses 50 pounds and takes the “after” picture, then what? In order to stay sharp and motivated, she’ll need to set new goals and begin to measure progress in other areas. Future improvements will be smaller—a few pounds here, a few seconds there–but even small improvements continue to motivate and contribute to ongoing transformation. We always have a weakness we can be working on.
Unless we stop measuring our progress.
Then we can tell ourselves that our weaknesses aren’t that big of a deal.
Before long we’ll be digging in our closet looking for our stretchy pants.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons