Running the Race

I’ve recently signed up for a half marathon which I am so excited about.  Running is freeing.  It relieves stress and brings peace and clarity.  It can also be stretching, exhausting and challenging.  The past few months the relation between running and my relationship with the Lord has grown in significance.  

 

In training to run faster as well as longer distances, I’m running more often, becoming more disciplined and adding cross training so I don’t get injured or burnt out.  Essentially, the more dedicated I am, the more reward I’ll see.

 

All that said, you can put together the best training plan known to man but at the end of the day, you have to want it.

 

Our relationship with the Lord can be seen similarly.  We know where we are now and where we’ve been in the past.  We’ve all taken some wrong turns and gotten injured, but over time, there’s been healing.  Sometimes we are encouraged or inspired by seeing what others are doing around us, but it’s up to us to get up and move.  Going towards something bigger than ourselves requires us to count the cost – time, pain, sacrifice and ultimately being willing to lay ourselves down, along with our naturally tendency to lean towards instant gratification, to see the fruit of our labor later on.

 

While running, I remind myself that the farther I run today means the farther I’ll run tomorrow.  Today’s struggle means tomorrow’s reward.  If I’m constantly running the same distance without pushing myself for more, then I’ll remain at the same distance forever.  It’s funny how when running the same route and distance over and over, we not only learn when to expect to get tired, but we also get bored…yet we keep doing it.  Or we don’t.

 

While running in MI last week, I reached my usual 2 mile mark, only this time I didn’t get tired and turn around.  This time I knew I could run further, so I kept going.  I ran down backroads that I had only ever driven down before.  Oh, it was a beautiful thing to breathe deep and listen as the leaves rustle with the wind. 

 

6 miles later, I was tired but I felt accomplished.  I ran farther.  I pushed myself harder.  I exceeded my previous limit.  Now that I’m back in GA, I know where I get tired so it’s time to push myself beyond what I think I can handle, or perhaps I need to find a new route.  Explore.  Discover.  

 

Imagine where our relationship with God would go if we had that same mindset.  Please don’t hear me saying that we need to work in order to have a relationship with Him.  I’m saying we need to start steadfastly seeking, asking and expecting more of Him.  We’ll always only go as far as we’ve gone before if we don’t have eyes to imagine what’s beyond that.  We need to position our minds and hearts to dream, to imagine, to ask ‘what if…?’.    We need to get a little uncomfortable.  In stepping out of my ‘comfortable’, I’ve been able to see him clearer and know Him more intimately than ever before.  I hear Him.  I feel His presence.  I am guided by Him, and I trust Him.

 

I pray for more of Him and less of me.  I pray that I am so consumed by Him, that I am fully able to do His will in the tiny amount of time I’m here.  I pray that my desires are His desires.  I want to be a walking presence of His love.  I pray that each encounter made is an encounter with Him. That His love exudes out of me, and radiates off of me.  I pray for a desire to know Him more, and that He continues to give me more revelations of His character.  I pray that He takes me further and that He gives me strength when I feel weak and lost. I pray that I rely on Him and not myself to do the things He’s put on my heart.  I pray for people to partner with me in this.  I pray to be uncomfortable and for things to get hard because that’s when our faith is tested, deepened and strengthened.  In this midst of all of this, I pray for unfathomable joy.