Muscle Memory

Been a few weeks since I posted. Sometimes we get caught up in life and we don't take the time to sit down and compose our thoughts. I normally have no shortage of things swirling in my head to blog about but sometimes sitting down and composing them is more difficult. So back in the swing this week.

The NBA playoffs are upon us and before that March madness. I am enthralled by the emergence of the sharpshooters. I am particularly amazed by Stephen Curry who hits from way beyond the three point arc at a rate that is fascinating. From that distance there are so many things that can go wrong to cause the ball to not go through those net laces. Any slight variation from the trajectory would cause the ball to go off. This is what I believe is what people refer to as "muscle memory". It is a practice of precision gained from repetition. Stephen Curry practices these same shots with the same movement over and over again until it is almost automatic. He does not vary at all especially in the game when a man is upon him. In practice, he actually made 77 in a row. Now with the physical pressure of a game, maybe that drops to 40+%.

God wants the believer to be fueled by a kind of muscle memory. By that, the scriptures and the presence of the Holy Spirit are so ingrained so in our lives that to live by them is normal and to go against them is abnormal. Paul says to "let the word of Christ richly dwell within you" (Col 3:16). This takes intense practice. Yet so many of us just slough off the practice of knowing God that holy muscle memory doesn't have a chance. I find the disciplines of godly living require, well discipline. Many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have holy habits of study, memory, and prayer, but others treat these disciplines like they are going through a fast food window.

I play left field in baseball. From left field my accuracy is very good. I can throw a ball 150 feet with very good precision. Yet when I pitch it is almost comical how much I struggle to get the ball over the plate. I switch up arm angles and alligator arm the ball up there. The difference is 100% muscle memory. To the Christian, that type of mid-stream adjustment leads us to be like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6). What I have found fascinating is a complete lack of confidence fueled by lack of discipline when I stand on the mound. And unless I cultivate the habits of holy living, I will similarly alligator-arm and arm-slot my way through life. Muscle memory is essential to the man bent of Stephen Curry like precision.