It’s easy to look at the end result and blitz passed the process that yielded the outcome. In sports, it’s the highlight reel and in relationships, it’s the Instagram moment. In careers, it’s the promotion and in academics, it’s the degree. We climb the ladder of success seeking mountain top moments without realizing the joy of the journey is not merely found at the destination.
Similarly, for those who dare to journey, it’s easy to miss what’s happening along the way. Hypertrophy is “the increase in volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells.” Coaches author programs with many reps and sets to increase each athlete’s time under tension in order to bring about hypertrophy, a process not an event.
How does the heart grow? The Lord provides opportunities, sometimes repetitious situations, that allow us to grow in virtue so that we may be more faithful, trusting, and loving. It’s easy to feel fatigue and muscle failure and burn out because we haven’t “arrived” at the goal. Similar to repping out push-ups, pull-ups, or mile repeats, practice allows us to grow. Trusting teaches us to trust; heart hypertrophy is the process and result of that increase in trust. Though the circumstances may not be what we would choose, let us allow the experience of darkness and silence to increase our trust in He who is trustworthy.
Verso l’alto,
Kathryn Grace
I’m thankful for the scars because without them I wouldn’t know your heart
Frassati Reflections 