I have made not secret about the fact that I DO NOT like running. I don’t mind playing sports—running on a pickleball court or a soccer field or a basketball court fills me up—but running for the sake of running is awful. It hurts, it can be boring, and it’s hard. However, I know I need the cardio, and I’ve found it’s the best way for me to stay in shape…despite the downsides and the obstacles.
A few years ago, I started running with others rather than on my own; we run at what we like to call a “conversational pace.” The encouragement I get from the others and the easy fellowship allows me to focus on the benefits of the exercise rather than the body aches and boredom. I know that I am building up my endurance for those times when it’s necessary to run without them, when it’s necessary to draw on my ability to do other equally or more difficult things, when it’s necessary to find mental or emotional or spiritual strength that I may not have otherwise discovered on my own. It’s still hard, but learning to endure through the discipline of participating with a healthier perspective allows for the presence of peace even in the midst of a difficult run. When I focus on the peace, when I focus on the joy found in the encouragement and the overcoming, when I set my eyes on the glimpses of beauty around me instead of being done in by the brutality, I can run well.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
This is life. We encounter difficulties, things we don’t want to do, things that hurt, things that are daunting, things that seek to overwhelm us, almost daily. And enduring these things can seem like an impossibility, especially when they come one after another after another, when they just won’t quit. But when we look to the encouragement of those who have run the race, those who know the terrain, and the One who ran a perfect race, the One who gives us what we need to persevere, the One who is always with us regardless of our pace or our path, we can endure, we can run well, and we can share the harvest of peace with so many others as we join with the crowd of witnesses.
Sam
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