I am not a runner. My son and I were joking that if I am running you need to look for someone chasing me. Then, he said, “You know, Mom, if you want to learn to run, you could just pretend that someone is chasing you.” I cracked up laughing as I pictured myself running through the park, screaming for help from the imaginary person chasing after me.
But seriously, I have quite a few friends that are runners. Not just occasional run-when-you-feel-like-it, but serious, run-everyday, train for a marathon type folks.
I even had a friend who got special permission from her doctor to keep running everyday when she was nine months pregnant. What?!?
I find that even a little extra weight feels enormous when I am trying to run. Everything feels like it is dragging me down. I am told that if you keep running, there is almost a euphoria that kicks in and the adrenaline/endorphins become addictive. Maybe that is why they press on. Keep running each and every day, rain, shine, sleet, snow.
Our spiritual life is like that. Extra weight, like worry, anxiety, fear, past hurts, betrayals, etc., but keeping at building a relationship with God day after day helps to shed that weight. To throw off what trips us up and drags us down.
Consistency day in and day out is the key.
This life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. Each one of us is called to be an endurance runner.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Philippians 3:12-16 (ESV)
We have to press on with joy, keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize: the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Pretty much everyone likes to be thought of as mature. Paul says for those of us who consider ourselves mature should set our minds for consistency and persistence. We should never give up. What is ahead of us is so much better than what lies behind. We need to forget the past and focus on the future.
Keep our eyes on the prize.
Are you “in it to win it”?
Action Step: To be consistent, we have to plan. Consistent time with God, just like consistent training for a marathon, does not just happen in the leftover cracks of time. Time with God and in His word has to be scheduled and protected. I get up earlier to make sure it happens at the beginning of the day so that the busy-ness of my life does not rob me of the prize. Find the time in your schedule that works for you to be consistent day in and day out, when it is hard. The key is to keep going no matter what. When we stumble or skip a day, we need to get back up and start again.
Dear God, thank You that You have a plan for our lives. Help us to keep our eyes on real goal. To throw off the weight of eveything that drags us down. Enable us to run with endurance the race You have designed for us. Strengthen us so we can finish strong. In Jesus’ name, amen.