When I was a little kid, we got a pull-up bar at our house, and my siblings and I all took our turns trying to lift ourselves up. When we weren't very successful—except my brother, who could probably do a few—rather than factor in our young ages for our lack of upper-body strength, my dad said, "What are you going to do if you're ever hanging off a cliff and can't pull yourself up??"
Yeah, because that happens often.
Then we watched the movie Cliffhanger, and the Skipper reminded us once more of the importance of being able to pull ourselves up in case we are ever in life-or-death situations where we have to use mighty strength to ensure we don't plummet to the earth below.
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| Totally realistic |
The Merrills don't mess around.
Recently, I decided I want to be able to do pull-ups on my own. I can do chin-ups, but pull-ups are a bit more challenging. I've been using the assisted pull-up machine at the gym and lowering the amount of assisted weight I use each time. My goal is to be able to do unassisted pull-ups before the end of the year. I mean, what if I hang out with Sly Stallone at the beginning of 2014? I've certainly got to be prepared.
A couple of weeks ago, I was taking off assisted weight with each set, and I liked the progress I was making. I was between sets and giving myself somewhat of a pep talk (while jamming out to Taylor Swift on my headphones, of course), then I did my reps and got down and did somewhat of a celebration about what I had just accomplished. I spun around, and it was then that I noticed the man sitting on the machine next to me just watching the spectacle before him. He did somewhat of a slow clap for me—most likely mocking me a bit. I was so happy that I didn't care. I said, "I did it!" gave him a high-five, then danced off to another machine.
I was telling my dad yesterday about how I was closer to saving myself during a potential cliff mishap, and he asked me why I don't try doing unassisted pull-ups each time I go to the gym. Rather than taking that approach, I've looked at it more as a process I'm going through to reach my goal. It's not one of those things I'm suddenly going to master without tackling various milestones as I go. It will take commitment, endurance and perseverance to get where I'm heading.
I feel like training to do pull-ups is the exact opposite of how I want to live my life. The more assisted weight I have, the easier it is to pull myself to the top, and the lesser weight beneath me leaves me struggling and using everything that's within me to eek my way to the bar. In life, however, I don't want to be only using the strength within me to chase my goals; I want that extra force—that power from God—working in me to help me every step of the way. I don't want to say "I did it all by myself." I want to say, "God did that."
At the gym, the goal is to reduce the amount of reliance on the extra assistance; in life, the goal is to increase the amount of reliance on the Lord.
If I ever feel like I'm hanging from cliffs in life, I'm going to be prepared, because I've got Someone incomparable to any piece of equipment a gym has ever seen.
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