There was a season, after a particularly draining stretch of ministry work, when going to church on Sunday felt like the very last thing I had energy for. I understood, intellectually, the value of gathering. I simply did not feel it.
What got me through the doors that season was not renewed enthusiasm. It was obedience to a simple instruction — not neglecting to meet together (Hebrews 10:25) — trusted even when the feeling had not caught up yet. Almost every time, sitting in that room with people who knew me reminded me why the habit exists in the first place. Feelings are not always reliable guides to what we need. That Sunday taught me to keep showing up even when I did not feel like it, and to trust that the feeling would eventually follow the obedience rather than precede it.