Remember

Do you remember the excitement of starting something new? We’ve been blessed here at Whole Armor Martial Arts to have some new students join our school the last couple of months, and what a blessing it is to see them get started. Nervous, intimidated, overwhelmed, maybe even a little scared but also totally and super excited!

If you’ve been with us for a while, do you remember how that felt? It’s really easy after you’ve been doing anything for a while to get pretty comfortable and lose that initial wonder and excitement of being a part something so completely new and seemingly amazing. Think about it – you have a new group of people to get know and train with, in a new place and surroundings, and a new uniform to wear too. There’s a bunch of new terms to learn, seemingly endless new techniques and movements to try and figure out and a completely different set of rules and etiquette to follow – kinda like going to Mars or something! But all really thrilling too!

Sad truth is that after you’ve been around for a while and you have a pretty good handle on all that stuff, it can seem to lose the wonder and fascination that you found at the start. Sound familiar?

Now has anything changed about the classes or the environment? No…. Has the uniform or the training changed? No….. so what happened? Well, we just get too comfortable and forget what got us all excited about it in the first place.

In the Bible that’s talked about as “Losing your first love”. And sadly it happens in faith too. Once we’ve been around for a while we get kinda comfortable with the lingo and the people and it becomes real easy to forget that amazing, wonder-filled experience that we had when Jesus first saved us.

And that’s why it’s so important to remember.

That’s one of the reasons we have our students keep a notebook and write down the things they learn at each class. It’s not only a valuable resource to help you remember all the techniques, tips and lessons that happen during your martial arts journey, but it also helps you to remember the way you felt as you learned them. In that sense, to remember your first love.

And that’s also why its so important to stay close to God in all the ways He’s provided for us. Reading His Word every day, plugging in to our local church for growth, fellowship and all the other things it provides, spending precious time in prayer, and – remembering. Recounting all the things that God has done for us so that we never forget how amazing and wonderful He truly is.

Maybe for you that’s your own “Faith notebook” where you write those things down. Or maybe it’s just spending time alone and un-distracted, recounting God’s blessings in your life. However you do it, my prayer is that none of us will ever forget His amazing grace, and the true joy of living with Him.