Cross-Fit or Crossfit

My life is a constant cross, whether it is church or Crossfit, the cross is always present.  As I’ve discerned how to write this blog I never knew how to do it justice.  The funny thing is Christ calls us to live out the cross, to love God and to love neighbor, one doesn’t work without the other; so why should my life be any different.  My hopes in this article is that you realize the things that matter in our life often carry the same characteristics to be successful; perseverance, determination, failure, and action.

Crossfit is something I found when I returned back to NC, and as a life-long athlete, I fell in love instantly.  I wanted to be great at everything right away.  If you know anything about athletics though, you know that instantaneous results do not happen!  You have your strengths, like I can lift heavy weights, and you have your weaknesses, like handstand pushups and pull-ups (in Crossfit language gymnastics moves).  Gymnastics moves for a piggy like me (a familial term we use lovinglyJ) are a bust! I can move heavy weights because I’m thick, but bodyweight exercises for me are like moving frozen molasses, it takes a WHILE!

My Catholic faith has a similar story, except the timeline is a bit longer.  I was born Catholic, went to Mass and CCD every weekend growing up, received the sacraments, yet was missing a key component, the relationship part.  I had half a plank to the cross, love others part.  It was easy for me to love others, as long as they weren’t the piggies aka my sisters.  I loved God, but mostly felt like I loved him because it was the right thing to do, not because I was in love with him.  I had a little cross I guess you can say, half a plank either way.  When I was about 23, this all changed.  I continued to go to Mass, but I searched for more.  I desired to be in love, and I was in love with a lot of the wrong things; boys, feelings, partying.  I was knocked down, dirty, and guilty, when God asked me if I was done yet? I’m Irish/Italian American so naturally it took me a while to realize, my life is meant for more.  If you are or have struggled with your faith, you know that it, too, does NOT happen over night! 

The beach has always been the place for me to find peace, to look out into the ocean and know that no matter what was happening in life, God is bigger.  I went to the beach the other day, sat back and was in awe of God’s creation.  I wanted to capture it, in my mind, with a picture, anything to sum up God’s love for me.  When my mom came down I asked her to take a picture, we took like 100, of me doing a handstand, a freestanding piggy upside down!  The sun was setting behind me, the ocean beautiful as always, and me upside down, doing something it took months to master, and in 5 long seconds (or minutes), we captured it, cross-fit or Crossfit. 

You see God wants to be present in everything with you; he wants to be in love with you.  Anyone who has been in love knows that love never fails; we often do, we fail, but it’s not the failure that defines us, it’s what you do after, and that’s CHARACTER.  Perseverance is getting up when everyone is counting you out, determination is telling you to get up, and action is what you do every day when you pursue greatness.  Greatness looks differently for everyone, cross-fit or Crossfit (though I may never compete in the games), my greatness comes from glorifying God through it all.  

--Live Love--

*do not own any rights to Crossfit (I am a Level 1 Trainer)