Muscle Memory
The boys and I have been playing ping pong lately. They often wonder how I can hit and return a fast-hit ball to their side of the table. My answer: muscle memory. After you do something so many times, you don’t have to think about doing it anymore; it just becomes automatic. Muscle memory is a good thing to have when you are driving a car. For example, when you see brake lights come on in front of you, it’s important that your legs and feet do what need to be done to stop the car without having to think about it too much. A delay could create a collision. I’m very thankful for muscle memory.
Muscle memory, however, isn’t really muscles remembering, it’s brain-training. We train our brain to remember how to do things again and again. I’m glad I don’t every day have to learn again how to walk, or eat, or drink, or talk, etc. We have learned these things and now know how to do them without thinking.
Muscle memory and brain-training can be useful or detrimental depending on how we use it. When we use it for sinful purposes, it becomes addiction. When we use it for good purposes, it becomes good habits. In Philippians 1:9, the apostle Paul wrote, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.” God wants us to use our muscle memory for good. This means that we must practice it daily. The more we practice loving one another, the more of a habit it will be, and the easier it will become to do it. For our love to abound, we must love one another more and more. Make love a habit.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley