Consistency over Intensity

Andy Bond, St Frances Mackworth, Derby

Jon Tyson used this phrase talking about prayer, but I think it also applies to life more generally.

All of us are being shaped/formed/discipled by someone and something. We are all changing year by year for better or worse.

I am sure there are a mixture of feelings for 2024, for me personally it was in the main a good year and most of my posts have been highlights – holidays, walks, achievements.

Yet the things that have formed me most are the routine day to day, week to week things: meals with family, daily time in the bible and growing in prayer, regular gym and climbing, daily protein/fruit & veg, switching my phone off in the evening till morning, reading & listening to books, listening to podcasts, worshipping alone & with my Church family – they are not highlights as such but they are vital and form me far more than one off excitements. 

As we enter 2025 there can be a desire to change everything and I think that comes from a good place of wanting to grow as people, but if being a gym goer teaches me anything, consistency is more important than intensity. Better 10 mins a day for a year than starting big in January and stopping by February.

Especially for those of us seeking to become more like Jesus, Eugene Peterson used a quote of “a long obedience in the same direction.” Let’s go for consistency over intensity, its less intimidating and actually will shape us far more in the long run.