Principle #9: River (Flow with the Go!)

 

Recommendation:  Watch "Principle #9: River" on GracieUniversity.com

(Disclaimer: I am not being paid/sponsored in any way to promote "Gracie University." I have found their "The 32 Principles" videos incredibly beneficial and I hope you do too. It's not necessary to watch these videos to benefit from this blog.)

Thoughts: 

In my younger years, I was an avid marathon runner. I've run the Boston Marathon twice, but my fastest marathon was in Chicago, where I ran a 2:44 for the race. I had trained vigorously for six months and was primed and ready. 

I remember running 10-mile training runs in 60 minutes flat, and long runs of about 20 miles. My body was ready, and it was my best marathon performance ever.

But I hurt myself in that race -- I injured my IT band in my right leg. It's a tendon-like stabilizing tissue that runs down the outside of your thigh to your knee area. 

I remember a few days after the marathon walking in the store with my family, and all of a sudden feeling like someone was stabbing me in my thigh. 

I took some time off from running, and honestly, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to run again. 

I was devastated. 

Days off from running turned into weeks, which turned in months. My identity as a runner, as a competitive marathon runner, was fading like the setting sun after a hard day's work.

After about six months, I decided that I had to do SOMETHING. I had to start from zero and begin building again, step by step.

Keep in mind, I was running over 80 miles per week before this happened. I typically ran 12-14 miles per day (6 days per week) with a long-run on Fridays between 18-22 miles.

And now, I had to start from ZERO.

I remember going to the track at the University of Missouri in Columbia (where I had done all my speedwork training). After a timid stretch and warm-up, I made up my mind to run just one lap. If that was all I could do, at least it was SOMETHING.

And sure enough, after one lap, the pain returned.  It was ALL I could do...

Two days later, I returned, and did it again.

Then the next week, I added a lap. And then the following week, another lap. And after about a month, I could run a mile nonstop.

Then two miles.  Then three.  And then finally, I was able to run in a half-marathon, with a decent effort that I could be proud of.

But that year I learned something that I will NEVER FORGET: 

When you hit a brick wall, DO WHAT YOU CAN.

This is the Principle of the River in action.

Sometimes in our Jiu Jitsu, we hit a brick wall with what we're trying to do. And that's ok -- just move on to trying something else. Don't try to muscle your way, that's not being true to the spirit of Jiu Jitsu. Instead, move on with something different.  Be like a River -- when it hits a rock, it doesn't try to go through it, instead it simply goes around it.

One of my favorite martial artists is the legendary Bruce Lee. Here is what he said about being like water: 

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

In the same way, our spiritual Jiu Jitsu can benefit from this principle. We get excited about ideas, about dreams, and about expectations of how we want to serve God.

But then things don't go the way we expected, or wanted, or dreamed about...

We can try to force things to bend to our will, or, we can be like water, and trust that God knows best, and stay flexible with what His will seems to be.

This is tough -- we've got to learn to set aside our ego, and really humble our soul before the Lord, and allow Him to guide things. Sometimes we get more than we wanted. Other times, we find ourselves with deep loss, or even sacrifice. 

But that's what faith is all about -- following God not because you UNDERSTAND, but because you TRUST.

And that's what being like water in our faith in Christ is all about -- trusting God with the process.

Maybe this is what Proverbs 3:5-6 is really trying to teach us:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Let's be like water.

Keep Rolling,

Brian