If you're not breathing hard, you're not doing it right!

If you've talked to me lately, you know I'm working out a lot. Some of the workouts are high intensity intervals. During the recovery periods in one of them, Chalene Johnson says, "If you're not breathing hard, you're not doing it right!" Or something very similar. In other words, you need to push yourself hard, to your limit. Your body rewards you by improving. Your cardiovascular level improves, you recover more quickly, you gain more muscle, you burn more calories, you lose more weight. But for it to work well, you have to push yourself hard. Otherwise, you're not doing it right.

In church today it hit me: if you're comfortable, you're not doing it right. Meaning you might not be on the right track if you feel comfortable. God pushes you out of your comfort zone. Like anything else, you have to push beyond what's comfortable if you want to improve. Which lead me to the realization that I'm too comfortable. It's easier for me to push beyond my comfort level in fitness than in faith. My fitness level is more tangible. But my faith is eternal. While fitness is an admirable thing to aspire to, I think it's time to re-evaluate my focus. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop working out. But my workouts are non-negotiable and I view most things through a fitness lens. I can relate pretty much everything to fitness or health now. I read about it, I think about it, I put my time and energy there. How big would my faith be if that were my primary focus instead?