Coco Calling No.196 - The Effort of Making The Effort

We’re always being told that exercise is good for us even though we don’t always feel like doing it. So I tend to do a lot of “zippy” flying first thing in the morning (before my brain’s fully awake and realises what I’m up to). At other times, I like to go for a “parrot walkabout” on the floor, and I’m also good at chasing flies up and down on the windowsill. But apart from that, I’m a sedentary bird and spend much of my time sitting on perches and working on my latest scientific theories.

My owner and his wife go to a local gym each Saturday morning, but I reckon they spend more time at the vending machine than on any other piece of equipment. And back here at home, their regular exercise regime is to walk between the TV room and the snack cupboard. Yes, exercise is one of those things that we know to be important but which we try to avoid. And for a great many humans, that that also applies to the Christian faith. Because it can take a bit of an effort to drag ourselves off to church or to open up the pages of a Bible. And we sometimes have to convince our brains that the reward outweighs the effort involved. The prospect of eternal life in Heaven should provide us with a huge incentive, but that only works when we believe it to be a reality instead of a pipe dream. Making the effort to take those first few steps is vital; otherwise we’ll all remain rooted to our perches or our chairs.

Terry Wogan once wrote:

“I don’t take enough exercise, but what is the longest-lived animal in the world? The giant tortoise is 120 years old and it hardly moves.” (Terry Wogan: 1938-2016: Irish TV and Radio Broadcaster).

And of course, he’s partly right. You don’t normally see giant tortoises in the gym. They can creak and groan their way through many decades of life here on earth but that’s only a good thing if they are using their time to secure their place in eternity. Which makes me think, perhaps I should start Bible study classes for tortoises!

“God is waiting to be found everywhere, in the darkest corners of our lives, the dead ends and bad neighbourhoods we wake up in, and in the simplest, lightest, most singular and luminous moments.”

(Shauna Niequist: 1976 – present: American Christian author)

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

“…seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7:7b-8)

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

(Acts of the Apostles 17: 27)