In the long run
I recently took up again the practice of running. I have had an off and on again relationship with running throughout my life. Firstly, I was a long-distance runner of slightly better than average ability in my teens. I ran somewhat in my 20s but only for fun. My exercise interests mostly lay elsewhere.
In my late 20s and early 30s I became interested in barefoot running, and really converted. It makes sense to me on several levels that running barefoot is actually better for you. So I had a season of running then, and then a season of not running, and on and off over the years. Last year was quite good, despite some calf injuries, I worked up to a 10km barefoot run, the longest I've ever done.
This year I stopped running for 6 months, due to a constellation of reasons. And now I'm back. And the thing about barefoot running is that you must start humbly. When you start barefoot running, you are retraining your stride (to land with the ball of the foot), and your musculature (your stride pattern is different and this puts different demands upon the calves in particular), and your feet!
So you go out for your first run, and all the advice is this : make it short. The first time I ever started, I think my first run was literally 200 metres. Why? Because your cardiovascular system might take you 4-5kms, and you'll feel fine, but the next day your feet and legs will pay the price. Even this time around, I could easily do a 6-7km run, but I have started at 2km.
It takes restraint to do this. The thing that gives me that restraint, that says, "don't try and do extra, you don't need to add extra metres today", is the knowledge that too hard, too fast is going to result in injury; and the vision for the long run. It doesn't matter to me if I run 5kms today. Not if it means I'm off running for 6 weeks once again nursing my calf. It matters to me if I'm running consistently and well in 5 months, in 5 years. So, not even "oh, it's not a sprint but a marathon", but how do I train today to make sure I'm strong tomorrow.
And the turn is that this is wise advice for habit building in general. In recent months God has renewed greatly my desire to pray, and my interest and commitment to structuring prayer well, praying well. Of course, I could ride the zeal and have long prayer sessions, commit myself to long bible-reading spells and praying lists of everyone I've ever known. That isn't sustainable, and I know it. Instead, I ask myself, "how do I build a small and faithful habit that I will be consistent in, and let that build itself over time, so that in 5 years I'm still praying faithfully, and more, and better, rather than burning myself out under the burden of commitments I made in the heat of the moment".
So too, not just habits, but the Christian life in general. How do I do well today, so that I'm doing well in 30 years? How do I cultivate a practice of faith for the long run. This is the question I return to again and again.