In a controlled environment, resistance can be used to develop strength and improve endurance, it can cause you to go further than you thought you could ever go. Let's look at some more ways we encounter resistance as we set out on a quest to attain a goal. Any goal, whether it's finishing NaNoWriMo or getting flatter abs, comes with resistance.
Think about it, where's the fun in a video game with no resistance? If Pac-Man just ate all the dots and the ghosts never appeared to chase him around would it still be a fun game to play? If a basketball team had no opponent, would they still bother to get out there and shoot hoops? Novels without antagonists. Movies without villains... the list goes on. Conflict, or resistance, helps us grow so we can move on and pursue the next goal, which will inevitably be more difficult.

I keep thinking about the French Resistance in WWII. They were very effective, but they weren't out there wearing labels, either. The Germans didn't know who they could trust and who they couldn't, and the intelligence information the Resistance delivered to the Allies was a key factor in the defeat of the Axis Powers.

The daily resistance we encounter in our battle to win, to grow, to succeed, to progress, isn't exactly obvious. You know that fuzzy orange monster Weight Watchers uses to personify uncontrolled hunger? Wouldn't it be nice if "Hungry" really was an orange Muppet you could kick and throw and slam in the door? If resistance to sticking to a healthy diet was so obvious, it might be easier to stay on a plan. Yeah, of course it would. It's those unseen enemies that are hard to battle, the ones that come from the inside.

What is it dragging you down on the road to your promised land? Are you procrastinating? (see previous post) Are you giving in to paralyzing discouragement? Distracted by details along the way to your destination? Compromising with yourself, or with God? Or just plain quitting?
I got distracted AND discouraged yesterday, and didn't even write a new resistance post. I almost "didn't get around to it" today! (I guess that makes me this week's virtual example.) That might be your status quo: a habit of starting and stopping, never pushing all the way through to the end of a thing and finishing it.


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The unfinished manuscript.
The infomercial exercise program that stays in the shrink wrap until you finally sell it on Ebay.
The painting project.
The scrapbooking kit.
Yada, yada, yada.
We've all got 'em, loitering in closets and dressers and desks.
So what made you quit? Why did you give up before you were through? Our numero uno excuse? Not enough time. That's the answer we all give these days.

I'll hit that one tomorrow. Or the next day... Because right now I have to get to my Nano challenge and exercise, both of which I procrastinated all day.
I'm so thankful God is a finisher! Can you imagine what the universe would look like incomplete? If God hadn't "finished" the work? And I believe He's able to help us finish, too!