"Workout Paused"

I have a little dog named Penny. She is a tiny Maltese X Shih Tzu. She is so small that some people mistake her for a puppy instead of the almost 9-year-old dog that she is.

Penny loves, with a capital L, going for a walk every day. When she hears the words; “let’s go for a walk,” she jumps and gets excited. She is such a clever little dog that she even understands if those words are said in Afrikaans.

I love taking Penny for a walk. She is my motivation to get out there and do my daily exercise. My only complaint about walking with Penny is that her nose is too close to the ground. She loves to stop and smell every new and fascinating smell. Part of stopping involves a little spray of her perfume as a notification that she was there. I outweigh Penny significantly, but let me tell you, she does not budge unless she is done with her little routine. I can pull as much as I want, but she will not move unless she is done.

Most of the time, I do not mind the stop-and-go routine with Penny. I love the leisurely pace. It gives me ample time to listen to my music and pray. But some days I am in a hurry and then her stopping and smelling tends to get on my nerves.

This morning was one of those. I had a goal. I wanted to see how far our usual walk was, and I was set on walking at a reasonable speed. So, I set the app on my phone to work-out mode, played energetic music in my ears and set off at a good pace. But not for long…

Every time we stopped, the app would remind me, ‘Workout paused’, and then we were off again, ‘Workout resumed.’ After a while, I realised that I had spoiled my walk with Penny by being so focused on the ‘workout.’ Prayer fell by the wayside and the music felt more irritating than encouraging.

By the end of the walk, I felt the Holy Spirit whisper that my walk with the Lord is sometimes like this. Sometimes we treat our walk with God like a workout. We get so task-orientated that we miss out on the enjoyment we should get from our walk with God.

We all have our tasks and lists of things that need to be done, and we feel frustrated when what we have planned gets interrupted. The worst is when we have built momentum, and everything seems to be going hunky-dory and out of the blue, life throws a spanner into our wheels, and everything comes to a grinding halt. No matter how hard we tug and pull, aka pray and declare, we just cannot get going again. We struggle to get back to the momentum that we had before.

What we do in those moments when we are forced to pause is very important. If we just struggle and complain about pausing, we risk missing something important that God wants to impart to us. Maybe in our enthusiasm for the task at hand, we have been robbed of enjoying our walk with God. By pressing the pause button of our lives, God is encouraging us to slow down and get back to important things.

We know nothing lasts forever. Even a pause. If we allow God to interrupt our lives with the occasional pause, then we will be able to enjoy our walk with Him so much more because we will not see the pause as wasting time. Then, before we know it, the pause time is over, and we can be off on a good clip again.

One of the dangers of being so task-orientated is that we get annoyed at every little interruption, and eventually, all enjoyment for the task will be gone. The other danger is that if we get so focused on the task that we forget Whom we are doing this for, God, in His wisdom, might stop us completely and lose everything.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus warns the church of Ephesus. He starts with this acknowledgement: “I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience and have laboured for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” This church should be commended for getting on with the task at hand. Jesus sees that, and He acknowledges it. Unfortunately, a big but follows.

Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

The fact that they were working hard for the Kingdom was not a bad thing, but it seemed that they got so task-orientated that they forgot their first love. First, love is a lovely analogy. When we fall in love, we are consumed with each other. We don’t want to be apart and can’t wait to be together again. We listen carefully to everything our loved one says and replay it in our minds repeatedly. We find enjoyment in our interactions.

So, Jesus is saying to the church; “you are doing great, I see you are working hard, and you are focussed on doing your best for me, but I miss you. I miss the fellowship we used to have and the enjoyment you used to get from spending time with me. Your work is important, but you are even more important than the task at hand.”

Let me encourage you today to remember that Jesus loves you. He wants to spend time with you. Yes, what you do is important, but in God’s economy, you are way more important than any task you may do. If your relationship with Jesus has taken a back seat to your work, then no matter how important that work is, you are in a bad place. Jesus' warning to the church in Ephesus was that He would remove their lampstand unless they repent and return to their first love.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Thankfully, we serve a patient and merciful God, and He presses the pause button in our lives every now and then so that we can be reminded of what is important. If you feel that your life is in pause mode today, don’t fight it; rather, use the time to reflect and remember why you do what you do and who you are doing it for. Remember your first Love.

God loves you, period. Nothing that you can ever do can make Him love you more.