We currently have a group of airmen and officers training for Special Forces at the pool. They swim, and work, and swim, and work for 1-2 hours at a time. It is pretty impressive. I'm actually a little proud that they are working at our pool and asking for our help in technique. All of us have our fingers crossed for them. There is one in particular who is pouring his everything into reaching his goal. Seriously, I've never seen anyone work so hard to accomplish something. It is almost overwhelming to watch some-days.
He does have one major roadblock. He is working so hard, putting so much in that he starts to over think and stress the things he is more than capable of doing. That stress starts to affect his performance, when if he could just relax, he'd out perform everyone. He can't get out of his own head. He starts to worry so much about the small parts that he messes up what he gets right instinctively.
It made me think about those of us who are very...academic...about our faith. I love studying theology. I love dealing with the really hard and intellectual side of Christianity. And I don't think that is a bad thing. I do think it can become a stumbling block though. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to figure the hardest mystery or solve the biggest problem that we get trapped in our own intellectualism. It keeps us from doing the basic tenants of our faith, of maintaining the relationships with God and each other. We sometimes have to step back and get out of own heads. Not because we stop wanting to learn or grow, but because sometimes that is the only way to learn and grow. We have let everything we know turn into instinct, and that happens by doing what we learned, not by learning more.
So get out of your head today, and go love someone. Or swim a few laps. Whichever will help.
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