I made a disappointing discovery this morning. I suddenly remembered that I had not done my Italian practice with Duolingo.com for two days.
For months now, I've been learning Italian for about 25 minutes a day. I had a 128 day streak going. I was so proud of myself.
I went to the Hearts at Home conference in Peoria, Illinois on Friday and Saturday and I was having so much fun that I completely forgot about my Italian. Che triste! (How sad!) I had missed a few days before, but never more than a day at a time and I was able to save my streak by paying some "lingots" (duolingo currency). How I hated to go to that home screen and see "0 day streak." I felt like quitting for a minute, but I bounced back pretty quickly and got my practice in for today.
It got me thinking about how often I want to quit if I can't keep up a perfect streak. After a good streak of updating my blog, I missed my Focus Friday, and then I missed my Sorry Saturday, and I found myself thinking about just skipping my blog completely.
I can have a consistent streak of exercising or eating well going, and then one bad day tempts me to just forget about it and stay in bed and eat whatever I want.
So I didn't skip my blog today. Even if I'm just writing this for myself, I'm going to use it to remind myself that it's worth it to start over again when we break a streak we had going. My previous Italian practice wasn't all for nothing just because my streak count reset to zero. My determination to be fit is still worthwhile even if I stay in bed one day or eat a box of peeps. My desire to grow in my faith is still valid even if I skip a day of Bible reading or forget to pray before a meal.
We have to keep on going. We can press on and do our best. God loves us just as we are. He can't love us any more and He can't love us any less. He's not looking at the stats on our streak counts, He just wants us to keep loving Him and never give up.
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26 NIV)
Do you get upset when you fail and break a perfect streak you have going in some area of your life? How can focusing on God help you to keep going in spite of your disappointment?
I went for a walk tonight mainly because I knew I'd be less likely to keep my streak up once I broke it... walks are a good time to connect with God or with family if someone goes along. Focusing on that will help me get going again if I fail.
ReplyDeleteIt was great meeting you this weekend!