Triathlons tend to start with a swim in some sort of lake, occasionally an ocean, and every once in a while in a river. The problem with swimming in a river is there is a current. . . often a strong current! In 2018 I did my first triathlon with a river swim. This particular triathlon was located in Louisville Kentucky and the swim was in the Ohio River, one of the largest rivers in the United States. 

 

For our 2.4 mile swim, the race organizers had the idea to have us swim upstream for a little under a mile, and then downstream for a mile and a half. They reasoned that those distances would equate to roughly the same amount of time swimming upstream and downstream. The river, however, had a different idea. It poured rain all day and night before the race and so the Ohio River was absolutely rushing. The professional men and women started 30 minutes before us amateurs and when the cannon blew, they jumped in and started swimming as hard as they could. . . and they went absolutely nowhere. After watching them struggle for 5 minutes, making little to no progress, the race organizers shot off the cannon again. They stopped the race and had the lifeguards corral the exhausted and disgruntled professionals. 

 

After a 30 minute break they decided that the current was too strong to go upstream and we could only go downstream. Every racer ended up doing their 1.5 mile swim downstream and I swam the fastest I have ever swam. In fact, I was swimming at almost world record pace and I wasn’t even in the top 100 swimmers in the race! 

 

When we think about spiritual disciplines or spiritual practices (things like prayer, fasting, solitude, generosity, Scripture reading, community, hospitality, and sabbath) there are practices that come naturally to us and practices that are incredibly difficult for us. 

There are practices that feel like swimming upstream and practices that feel like swimming downstream. For some of us, we love being alone in prayer, we love fasting, we love solitude. Others of us feel like we’re going crazy when we’re alone with nothing to do for 10 minutes, but we love to be generous, hospitable, and study Scripture with others. 

 

It is good to have a number of spiritual disciplines and practices in our life that are “downstream practices.” Things that come easy to us, often feel effortless, and we feel like God’s face is shining on us when we practice them! It’s also good to have one or two spiritual disciplines that are “upstream practices.” Habits that go against our natural grain that require us to practice self-discipline, to deny ourselves, and to feel our deep need for the Holy Spirit to work in us. 

As we come to the season of Lent: think about your time with Jesus and with his Church in terms of “upstream habits” and “downstream habits.” If we only practice the habits that are easy for us, we miss out on significant growth. At the same time, if we only practice habits that are challenging for us, our spiritual lives can feel like a long, slow slog. 

 

Lent is a time for both upstream and downstream practices, it is meant to be a time where we become increasingly aware of our need for Jesus and the life that he offers. As we look forward to Easter, we realize just how dependent we are on God to experience life abundantly. In Psalm 42 David models this attitude as he tells us “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

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As ever,

Pastor Tyler