That We May Win the Prize
Overdoing it
By mile 13, I was spent. One more tenth of a mile seemed like another mile with the amount of energy I had left in me. After hearing of Iron Cowboy’s Conquer 100, I wanted to be a part of his story. James Lawrence, nicknamed Iron Cowboy, holds numerous Ironman world records. His newest feat is to accomplish 100 Ironman triathlons in 100 days.
I figured I would join him on his marathon portion one Saturday since I was just miles down the road from where he was making history. Up to that Saturday, I had only been running 3–6 mile runs maybe twice a week—nothing like the training he had been doing for months and years prior.
Just 3 days after my delusional workout I came down with a cold, which turned into a sinus infection, which turned into yet another upper respiratory infection. It’s a phenomenon I’m all too familiar with after I over-exert myself.
This time around though, I may have learned my lesson.
What doesn’t kill you can make you weaker.
As the body becomes stressed from overexercising, it becomes inflamed. It naturally creates its own steroids to reduce the damage from inflammation, however, these steroids have a negative side effect. They become a powerful decreaser in how our immune system fights illness. So being exposed to a virus shortly after over-exercising increases the chance of becoming ill.
This doesn’t necesarily mean that all exercise weakens our immune systems. In fact, scientific experiments prove otherwise. “A series of 2005 experiments with mice, for instance, showed that if rodents jogged gently for about 30 minutes a day for several weeks, they were much more likely to survive a virulent form of rodent influenza than untrained animals.”
The study revealed the key…daily exercise. I love the word gently as well. There wasn’t exercise to the point of complete exhaustion.
What does this mean for our spirit?
If this phenomenon happens to our bodies from over-exertion, can the same happen from over-exerting our spirits?
Yes.
First, let’s understand what over-exertion implies. It means that we exceed our current capabilities to withstand extended stress. We have not prepared for the stress we experience, be it physical or spiritual.
2020 rocked our world. So many things changed in each of our lives that we had to continually process everything, which runs on adrenaline until it doesn’t. When the adrenaline runs out, exhaustion sets in.
Maybe you can relate. I became spiritually hungry as I had relied on in-person church attendance to feed my spirit. If I wanted the same spiritual enrichment in my life, I had to work at it harder, which wasn’t always the case. I became less physically active as well and I ate my feelings more than I ever had in my life, typically in unhealthy ways. I was experiencing more stress than I was accustomed to handling and I was not diligent in my physical and spiritual efforts to handle that stress.
2021 came as a breath of fresh air and with hopes for a brighter future. As winter is waning as well, a soon-to-be spring has brought plans for change and a desire to do more.
However, I am finding that my new plans and ambition are met with a body and spirit not prepared for the levels of stress my mind plans to place on it. I have lofty visions of who I can become in nearly every aspect of my life and at times, I’ve tried to cut corners to no avail. I’ve tried to do things out of order.
How can I change this?
The answer is pretty clear and perhaps a little too on-the-nose with the running metaphor we’ve got going on here, but it stands to repeat.
“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. (Mosiah 4:27)”
This verse simply explains the Lord’s way for becoming who we are meant to become. He clearly does not expect an overnight transformation, but he does expect a daily effort. This daily effort increases our ability to withstand future extended stress, which living in the last days is sure to come if it hasn’t already. This theme is expressed in other ways in the scriptures like the phrase, “line upon line”, or “here a little, there a little.” All those gentle pushes or “little” revelations add up to incredible strength over time. As a God of order, He expects us to crawl before we walk. To walk before we run. To run according to our strength before we increase our speed and distance.
A few years ago, I sat in a room with the Iron Cowboy presenting to my company. This was subsequent to his 50/50/50 challenge completion (50 Ironmans, 50 states, 50 days). As he shared his origin story, he shared the time his wife signed him up for a race before all the Ironmans came into the picture. It wasn’t a long race, just a few miles and he wasn’t too happy his wife had surprised him with the registration. He recounted being sore and not able to walk after the race.
It was hard to juxtapose who that person was to the man I was now seeing. How did he do it? One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time. And in his own words, one second at a time.
“Be perfect for one second. And then do it again. In your darkest moment, I promise you can be perfect for one second,” Lawrence said.
James Lawrence showed diligence. Day after day, he took delight in the struggle because he knew who he was becoming. Can we change the word to “dailygence,” because that’s what it’s all about? The word diligent in Latin literally means “to love or take delight in”. It’s not difficult to be dailygent as we take delight in transformation. It also becomes more delightful as we are dailygent.
Remember…“it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize.”
