Pain

A couple days ago I was doing an exercise called a "Sumo Deadlift High Pull" (Disclaimer: That is not me in the video).  Evidently my form was poor and I was trying to muscle up the weight with my lower back, instead of letting the momentum of my hips snap the weight to my chin.  Now I have a sore lower back.
  Nothing that restricts movement, but I know it's there and it hurts a little.  I have found relief in keeping the muscles warmed up, and gently stretching all the connected muscles (calves, hamstrings, glutes, trapezoid, rhomboids, latisimus dorsi, etc.)  I also have noticed more relief when I sit and move with a neutral alignment.

Why am I telling you this?  I'm really not a complainer, and I don't want your sympathy, and I shy away from sharing what I do for exercise.  What this is really about is an analogy for our lives.  Sometimes we try to muscle up the good works and get things down on our own power.  Sometimes we are even successful at it.  But it will catch us, when we are tired or lazy and it is going to hurt.  When it does, the cure is to step back, rest, take a lighter load while we work on the details of the movement.  Then we practice supporting movements (Spiritual practices) that realign the framework and move us back into a healthy state where we can run the race, carry the load, and throw off the sin that so easily entangles us.  Finally, when we once again encounter the movement that set us back, we trust Jesus to complete the work that he began in us to completion.  This is Jesus' movement; we join him in carrying the momentum that he has already begun.