“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?
So run that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
Sisters in Christ,
This month, I felt like I needed to be a bit vulnerable and share a confession: I recently climbed a mountain. After an inordinate amount of time being basically stagnant during stay-at-home orders, climbing a mountain was a pretty big feat for me to take on. This was one of the paths on the North Shore called Peacock Flats (don’t let the name fool you though, it is a treacherously inclined, gravelly, and mostly uncovered mountain of a trail).
To make the adventure even more spontaneous, I decided to take on this hike up the mountain on my own and I somehow even forgot my phone. No phone, no music, no company, no shade: it was a disaster waiting to happen. All things considered, I still started on the journey with a well-paced jog, and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until I hit the beginning of the incline. Even though it was just a small rise, I immediately realized how hard it was to push forward at the same pace without running out of breath or feeling a burning sensation in my legs. As the trail got more challenging, I had the choice: either keep going or give up.
Everything inside me wanted to stop, to turn around, and to go back to where it was easy and shaded overhead. I thought up every excuse of why it would be fine to just quit the trail and do the hills some other day. Then, as I stood there looking up at the mountain ahead of me, thinking up every excuse to flee, a breeze came up pushing me one step further. I prayed that I could go one step further.
I had sweet fellowship with the Lord after that game-changing step, asking for endurance, praying that He would quiet any excuses to give up, enjoying scriptures that popped to mind. The pace might’ve been different, even a crawl at times, but I knew that if I kept taking one more step with the Lord, then another, I would make it to the top.
I kept praying, “how much of this mountain-climbing is like my life and walk with You, Lord?” There are times that the path of my life seems easy to take on alone, so easy that I can just run ahead at full steam. At other times though, life as a Christian can feel like I just hit the incline of the mountain and I want to go back to easier times or smoother terrain. To be completely honest, sometimes in my walk with the Lord I feel like I’ve been stagnant in the house for far too long.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds the believers to stay disciplined and keep running the race towards the prize. Hebrews 12:1-15 gives the best description of running the race with endurance as we look at Jesus’ example of love and faithfulness (and how we can stay disciplined). At times, taking that one more step in the race is akin to sprinting, but it is in those moments we can cry out and lean on the Lord’s strength until we reach that mountain-top finish line.
Looking to Jesus,
Jaime Angel