Piloting Faith: When others believe in us...

A Word for the Day...

My CrossFit coach is named Kevin. He is a tall buff bald guy with 1% body fat and the perfect physique. He is a fantastic coach for so many reasons but what sold me is that he is actually in shape. He has achieved what I painstakingly strive for in myself.

I show up at the gym, and Kevin is there to greet me. We get started with the warm-up. I’m usually miserable and out of breath by the end. Then we move to stretching, my personal favorite. I generally like laying around extending my limbs like a lazy cat. I try to distract Kevin at this point so that we spend more time than planned on this.

After stretching, we do strength work. We lift heavy things. I love this part. It turns out, I can lift a decent amount of weight, though when I put it down, I get that woozy feeling just before you sense you are going to pass out. That’s normal, right?

But then we get to the actual workout. It tends to involve terrible, often unspeakable exercises like burpees and box jumps. I complain, LOUDLY, to see if we skip those. Most of the time, I lose.

It’s during the workout that Kevin suddenly becomes invaluable to me. See, my brain starts yelling things at me. It says:

• "Are you insane? You are a middle-aged woman! You do not need to be throwing your body on the floor over and over just to burn calories and stay strong."

• "You can’t do this. You shouldn’t even try. Who do you think you are?"

• "Everyone else in this class is way thinner and way younger. And besides, you don’t jump."

But the greatest gift is that Kevin is yelling louder. Kevin is telling me that I CAN do it. Kevin believes I am making progress. At that moment when I want to give up and die, it’s Kevin who keeps me in the game.

We all need a coach like Kevin. We need people who care about our goals, push us beyond our self-limiting beliefs, and refuse to give up on us. There are moments in life when we need to borrow someone else’s confidence in us. That is the gift of the beloved community. We keep going because others believe we can.

I believe in you. Keep pushing.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

- St. Francis of Assisi