“But you’re doing it.”

“But you’re doing it.”

That’s what my husband tells me when I vent my eternal frustration with my lack of stamina. He hops up on Saturday mornings and runs 8-10 MILES. When the weather finally eased above 30 degrees in the mornings last week, I started running again. I had trouble running 2 TENTHS of a mile. (I got a whole mile in eventually, running and walking, but then I was so sore I couldn’t move for two days.)

“But you’re doing it.”

I want results. Progress. The measurable and immediate kind. I think that’s what made the Wii Fit appealing- two minutes of activity and boom! A score. (And a ranking!) The downside is that I get too hung up on artificial measures and lose patience with myself very quickly. Real progress comes slowly after a series of incremental victories.

Writing is a slow process, lots of long hours alone at the computer with very little measurable progress. I often need a healthy dose of encouragement. Faith-building is another slow process. I get frustrated when I see myself making the same mistakes, falling into the same struggles again and again. What is hard to remember and more difficult to measure, is that each time, I come away a little stronger. Plus, while God expects obedient effort on my part, He doesn’t hold me responsible for the results. Sometimes I forget that part.

“But you’re doing it.”

Whether in areas of faith and personal growth, or health and self-discipline, celebrate that effort. It’s easy to recognize you “should”, or even have a “want to”, but overcoming the inertia and doing it counts for a lot.

What is it that you’re ‘doing’?