Had it really been 7 years? I couldn’t believe it when my doctor let me know how long it had been since my last check up. I was prompted to go that day after spending so much time around beeping machines and monitors in the NICU when the twins were born. I couldn’t believe that it had been so long and that I was being told that I had type II diabetes. I probably would have caught it sooner but at this point, it was a complete nose dive into the world of test strips and medicine. I had no one to blame but myself. The Doctor wasn’t at fault for me not showing up for 7 years. I didn’t call. I didn’t write. Clearly,I was responsible for my diet and my lack of exercise. Any hope of prevention relied fully in me taking action, and I was totally neglecting myself.
We unintentionally let things happen. I unintentionally let 7 whole years pass where I neglected my health and I now have a new normal. I am about 5 years into that new normal now. I paid the price. It took a toll on me physically and mentally. Those were some dark days at the Fish house.
We do this with our spiritual growth too. We let it go unmonitored, we forget to engage in growth practices. We find things changing around us, it’s hard to keep up. Before we know it, so much time has passed and we don’t even know where we left off. Ultimately, it relies on our action. We should dive into community, we should seek to serve. We should be in the word and sharing what we’re learning. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to pass blame on lost connection, needing a change, or that we’re just not being fed.
All health requires effort on the part of the individual. Just like it’s not the Doctor’s fault when we make bad choices, it’s not the church’s fault when we disengage. The author of Hebrews urges the church to not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. In Acts, we see the early church growing as all shared everything. You would be hard pressed to find any example of consumer mentality in the first century church.
Just like it’s easy to get into the habit of eating sugar and carbs unchecked and unmonitored, it’s easy to slip into cruise control in our Spiritual life. Before we know it, we feel disconnected and unfamiliar with the body we once thought we knew so well.