This title probably comes as a shock to some. Becca barely knows how to kick a soccerball and yet she loves to run? Well… yes and no. I love the idea of running. I love the ability to be fit in order to explore and be somewhat athletic. Now, the huffing and puffing that accompanies my style of running and the actual physical exertion needed definitely holds me back from signing up for a half-marathon (if you can find me in the picture, you can definitely see why I won’t be a professional anytime soon).
Nevertheless, I try to run four to five times a week. Does that actually happen? Sometimes yes, but this week I’ll admit that it’s not gonna happen. My recent lack of motivation to get up out of bed usually means that I’m more huffing and puffing through my To-Do list rather than through the streets and back roads of my hometown.
Despite my recent lack of motivation, I signed up with a friend to do a Mud Run 5k, which involves obstacle courses, pond swimming, hiking, and of course… mud. While training for the run, I realized a trick to running faster. If I focused on my feet and looked down while running, I ultimately slowed down and stopped running sooner. But when I focused on an object in the distance, never breaking my gaze from it, I realized that I could run faster and farther than I ever thought I could.
Isn’t that so true about life?
Sometimes we put our gaze on our current situation and on ourselves in the race of life, breaking down, becoming overwhelmed and giving up sooner because of it. Yet when we look in the distance, both realizing the end goal of the race of life (total restauration and the glory of God) and Who controls that end (God Himself), we are able to do things that are unimagineable, because it is the Lord who is working through us, not our own sinful selves.
It’s extremely hard to do this, though. Heck, even Peter decided to look down as his feet when he walked on water, and he started sinking because of his lack of ability to trust in Jesus and keep his focus on Him.
What’s one way to help us keep our focus on Him? The Bible, of course. Constant daily devotion with the Lord? Absolutely. But something I know but tend to forget in day-to-day life is Biblical community.
I started out the Mud Run with my friend and since she is extremely athletic, she and I were many strides away from the beginning. I was alone. I went through ponds and became extremely muddy all by myeslf and the weight was weighing me down. I was getting discouraged and I wanted to walk my way to the end. Then, I came across a father and his son during the race.
Even though I didn’t know them very well, they encouraged me when I didn’t want to run, not just through words, but by example. We kept up with each other, encouraged each other through the obstacles, and finished together. The godly community that we have in our lives not only encourages us through words, but also through actions. And great communities are essential; God created us for that kind of relationship.
I never knew that the act of running could have such valuable lessons.
Oh, Becca . . . 