Plodding

Running.  I don't run like I used to.  I used to plod along.  More miles and longer run times is better than collapsing after a one mile sprint I thought.  So after years of jogging along I had trained my body well to never run fast.  I could plod.  Unwittingly, I had trained myself into a plodder.  So I changed the way I run.  I started slowly.  I ran, not too fast but as fast as a plodder can run, and then I would stop and walk.  No more plodding.  I either ran fast or not at all.  As time went by, my body began to realize that I was no longer a plodder.  My stretches of actual running grew longer and I did not need to stop and walk as often.  I still use this method to re-train myself each year to try to up my speed a little.
In one's spiritual growth, we must not settle for plodding.  The best way to not plod is to practice moving. Every year one should go through a spiritual upheaval.  Spend more time in prayer, more time serving, more time in Scripture.  More time in the fellowship.  You may have to stop and walk from time to time to catch your breath (Mark 6:31) but your attention to God will grow, your prayers will blossom, you will run and not grow weary.