Let your eyes look straight
ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and
let all your ways be established.
-Proverbs 4:25-26
I recently picked up kickboxing here in Jersey City in order
to switch up my workout routine (side note: I highly recommend it but be
prepared to be drenched in sweat!) The class is set up in such a way that each
person goes at their own pace. You pick a punch bag and you stick to that punch
bag for the whole one hour. Throughout the lesson, the instructor shouts and
demonstrates a move, or set of moves, that you are supposed to do.
My first class was a 9am class and the room was filled with
more than thirty people, both male and female, and of different age and race.
The environment was welcoming and I could tell that a lot of the people in that
room with me were beginners as well. My second class was a 5am class (I’m a
morning person). Now, you can imagine that not many people would wake up that
early for any reason, let alone kickboxing! The people who did wake up early for that class were all probably at the
intermediate level. Being a beginner, this specific class was extremely
intimidating. The instructor was a lot more serious and intense than the one
from my first class and the room was filled mostly with men who looked like
human Hulks.
Throughout the class, I found myself constantly looking to
my left, to my right and over my shoulder to see what the next person was
doing. When I saw that my neighbor was doing more burpees than I was, I picked
up the pace (even though my body clearly could not handle it). In fact, at one
point the man opposite me was punching his bag harder than I was so I decided
to copy him. In the process, I hurt my wrist! Looking back, I realize that I
was so focused on what everybody else was doing that it was taking away from my
enjoyment. The class became a competition rather than a class. It’s called a class because I’m supposed to be learning not competing. In the seconds that I spent watching the man punch his bag, I could’ve been focusing on my bag and I could’ve avoided my injury.
In the minutes I spent looking at my neighbor doing more push-ups than I was, I
could’ve actually done more push-ups!
We spend so much time looking over our shoulder to see what our
neighbor is doing and trying to do what he/she is doing that we forget that we have something to do. We are
constantly looking at their life and analyzing their blessings that we forget
that we have a life and God has given us our
blessings. We don’t know their story. Maybe they can do more push-ups than you
because they are a professional athlete. You’re probably asking God why they
can do more push-ups than you when you should be asking Him if you should even
be doing push-ups. Maybe God wants you to be doing sit-ups. When you don’t stay
in your lane, you waste your own time and you block your own blessings. When
you don’t focus on your punch bag, you risk an injury. When you spend time
examining your neighbor’s life, you miss out on the life that God has planned
for you. Life is designed such that each person goes according to the pace that
God has set for them – just like the kickboxing class.
One of my favorite verses from the Bible (which I think is
almost everyone’s favorite verse) is Jeremiah 29:11.
For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
-Jeremiah 29:11
I would like to point out the pronoun “you”. The verse does
not talk about your neighbor. The verse does not say that God knows His
thoughts towards “your neighbor”. Sure, God does
know His thoughts towards your neighbor but that’s not what you should be
worrying about. When you read the verse, the verse is in application to your life. God never wants you to look
at someone else’s life and think that He doesn’t care about you because that
person seems to have more than you or
seems to be doing more than you.
I am not saying that you shouldn’t look to people for
inspiration. If someone is in a place where you would like to be, pray about it
and hear what God has to say. If it is His will, he will get you to that place.
I encourage you to think about your lane,
your punch bag, your life. What is it that God wants you to do and how can you did
it with Him?
God truly loves you.
With love,
Mandile.
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