As I sat patiently waiting for my topic, it wasn’t until I opened my email and the New York Times email about ‘Marathons’ that I knew my title. Then I saw the title ‘Going the Distance’ and knew where today’s topic was headed.
Today is the New York Marathon. It is one of the hardest to qualify for. Nearly 60,000 people run this marathon each year. It’s a grueling 26.2 miles that take a lot of training to even get to the starting point. Some will start and not finish. Some will do everything within their will power to get to that finish line. The author, Molly Mirhashem, states ‘Runners often say that ‘the marathon owes you nothing,’ because it can punish even the well-trained. When I ran my first one, I hit the wall at Mile 16 (but slogged to the finish).’
She then went on to share that’s she’s run 12 marathons in the last decade.
That is quite an accomplishment.
I know runners will go all over the world to say they have run these marathons, for the challenge, experience and well earned bragging rights.
This got me thinking about life as a race. Not a quick run, where you can be done in a matter of minutes (although those take tremendous training too). The ones where at Mile 16, you get a cramp. At Mile 20, something else happens. And for some, almost immediately when they’ve started running, something happens, and they have to make the hard decision whether they will keep going or not.
I think of a couple of verses…
Hebrews 12:1 NLT ‘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.’
Galatians 6:9 ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’
As we run this race called ‘life’, so many things will make us want to give up. But, we can find hope and encouragement that we can run the race that has been set before us by asking God for the strength to endure. Not only because others are watching and gaining hope for their situation, but, because we want to hear ‘well done good and faithful servant’.
And, the caveat I’ll always add: make sure it’s the race that has been set before you – not the one you think you need to be running. The only way you will know this is by asking God for His wisdom and listening for the response.
Dear Heavenly Father, we pray for all the marathoners today who will be running their physical race. We ask that you will be those of us who are running our own spiritual races, and that we will run them well because this is the race you’ve set before us. Give us strength to go on when we are weary. Give us insight to know what is waiting on the other side of this race.