Why Squatting is Overrated

Dear Erin,

Please forgive my absence over the past few days. As you know, I'm coordinating a debate tournament this weekend, an endeavor that is taking more of my time and emotional energy than I dreamed possible.

However, this morning I found myself with some spare time, so I decided I would attempt something I've been considering for a while: barbell squats.

You see, I dream about weightlifting in the way a cash-strapped college student dreams of touring Europe. It's fun to study and think about, fun to dream about what it could do for your life. Is it possible it could happen in the future? Yes. Is it going to happen right now? No way.

Yet I'm an optimistic girl, so I headed for the gym determined to give it a try. It took me a half hour of wallowing among the Nautilus machines before I plucked up the courage to cross the basketball courts (past the twenty or so women in the senior's yoga class) to the weight room.

Once inside I was assaulted with a dizzying amount of weights heaped in corners and under my feet. Undaunted, I approached the squat rack. I could tell from my research that the height of the bar needed to be adjusted, so I unloaded the 90 pounds of weight already on it, moved the bar (wow, that's heavy!) to the floor, and adjusted the hooks. As I reached down to reset the bar, I came to the horrible realization: I couldn't lift it.

The idea behind a squat is that it uses most of the muscles of the body. Your legs, hips, core, and shoulders all work together to provide the upwards force necessary to move this heavy object up and down. Had the bar been on my shoulders I would likely have been able to lift it back onto the hooks. However, I did not have the benefit of the rest of my bodies. All I had were my arms, and they were not nearly enough.

So I did what any anxiety-ridden young lady in my position would do: leave the bar on the ground, quickly exit the room, and walk back past the yoga class (who could easily see my endeavors through the window of the weight room) at a pace that said "I am bold young lady whose confidence has not been swayed by this momentary setback" instead of "I need an adult!"

All of this got me thinking, though, about what we as people can accomplish on our own.

Not much.

There's an episode in Matthew that I think demonstrates this really well. It's a story you might have heard before. Jesus is healing the sick in a crowd of 5,000. They're far away from the city, it's getting late, and His disciples (and everyone else) are getting tired and hungry. The disciples (doing what I would probably have done in the same situation) advise Jesus to send everyone away so they could get food. Then this happens:

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to Me.”

You know the rest: Jesus blesses the loaves and fish and 5,000 are fed (with much left over). This is a beautiful demonstration of God's power, but there's more to be seen here. Jesus didn't respond to the disciple's requests by waving his hands and raining food down from the sky. He looked at what His disciples had (not nearly enough) and said "Bring them here to Me."

"Bring them here to Me."

You and I, we don't have much. With all the work that needs to be done in our own lives and in the rest of the world, well, we don't have the power to do much on our own. And that's okay. Jesus says "bring them here to Me." Whatever we have - our devotion, our talents, our attitudes, if we bring them to him they will be multiplied through His power.

You asked for tips in pursing God as a source of meaning in life. I don't know how much I can counsel you as it's a task I struggle with constantly. However, I do know that whatever we can bring to Him, it can never be good enough on its own to be deserving. We will fail. It's our nature. This doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but we must be forgiving of ourselves.

I would encourage you to avoid leaning on your own strength in this. Bring what you have to God, even if you don't feel like it's much. The things He can do are far greater than we can imagine.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go never squat again.

Yours,

Amy