Run no. 82 – When the wind’s against you
Posted: 20 June 2017 Filed under: perseverence, persistence | Tags: against the wind, holy spirit, perseverance Leave a comment
Distance: 4.53 miles (7.3 km) Time: 41’ 48” (PB 38’ 38”)
Out for a lunch-time run today. Quite warm but overcast so not too hot.
There was a pleasant breeze that was both cooling and at my back.
Which is of course where you want any breeze to be! You want it to be a help and not a hindrance; to reduce the effort and not increase it.
In the spiritual life it is much the same. God’s Spirit is often described as a wind, an invisible force that we experience without being able to see His presence.
Sometimes that Spirit-wind feels like it is at our back. The spiritual life is easy and fruitful. We feel that we are making progress. Our chosen spiritual disciplines do not feel burdensome and we sense they are helping us to grow and to change.
At other times we feel the opposite. Everything is hard, nothing seems to be happening spiritually, we wonder if it is all worth it.
I think that there are two possibilities when we feel like this.
Firstly it is entirely possible that God’s Spirit is blocking us because we are heading in the wrong direction.
St Paul had such an experience.
Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.[1]
Paul was trying to do what God had called him to do, to share the message of Jesus with the non-Jewish populations of the Roman Empire. And yet he is thwarted in some way both as he tries to enter the province of Asia and when he tries to enter Bithynia.
It is only after being blocked twice that he is open to receive a Spirit-inspired dream that guides him to Macedonia.
So sometimes when we are struggling to make any progress spiritually, it may be that we are heading in the wrong direction.
There is a further possibility;
Sometimes God allows trials and difficulties in order to strengthen our faith.
God’s primary goal for our lives is that we come to love Him more and more and be able to live in His love. This is why Jesus said;
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.[2]
Anything that God asks us to do, or allows to happen in our life, is designed to support this goal. In order to love God we need to know Him and sometimes we only get to know Him through difficult experiences. Jesus also said to his disciples;
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.[3]
So I guess the wise approach is to enjoy those halcyon days when everything is going easily, they are a grace and a blessing, enjoy them!
But when things feel tough and difficult and hard, pay attention. For either we are heading in the wrong way, or God is about to use something difficult to take us deeper in our relationship with Him.
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.[4]
[1] Acts 16:6-10 NIVUK
[2] Matthew 22:37-38
[3] John 16 :33
[4] James 1 :12
Run no. 78 – Shall I call the ambulance now?
Posted: 9 June 2017 Filed under: brother lawrence, christian life, endurance, finishing well, perseverence, persistence, spiritual life | Tags: athletic, athletic metaphors for the spiritual life, boxing, running, spirituality Leave a comment
Distance: 4.53 miles (7.3 km) Time: 42’ 54” (PB 38’ 38”)
The cheek of some people!
As I was running around Watermeads Country Park on my usual run; in reply to my cheery, “Good afternoon. God bless you!” some cheeky beggar shouted out to me,
“Shall I call the ambulance now?”
Which made me realise that I do not have the running equivalent of a ‘poker face’.
Some people have a running gait that looks effortless – even when they’re pushing hard.
Some have a beatific facial expression that belies all effort.
Not so me!
It is very obvious that every ounce of pain and effort is writ large on my face and shown in my belaboured running gait.
I guess this is true in the spiritual life too.
For some people the spiritual life looks easy. They exemplify certain verses in the Bible that seem to indicate this is how things should be;
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”[1]
For others the spiritual life doesn’t look like that at all. Rather it is more like some other scriptural verses. I think of St Paul’s use of metaphors from the boxing ring and the gym;
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?
Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly;
I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.[2]
So which of these is the truth about the spiritual life?
I guess the classic answer is both/and.
There are times when things go easy, God seems close, blessings are abundant and we can very well agree with Brother Lawrence that;
Our business is simply to love and be happy in God.[3]
At other times God will seem remote, blessings none existant, the demands of the spiritual life burdensome, and the rewards absent.
It is at times like these that the mental toughness developed by running can help.
We run even when it isn’t fun, because we know it is good.
Likewise we love and centre our lives on God, regardless of the payoff. It is simply the right way to ‘be’. And our perspective is the long game; not the close horizon of our earthly existence, but the far horizon of an eternity with God enjoying Him and all the good He has planned for us.
From the perspective of eternity our pains will be our pride;
they will be the inerasable evidence of our love for, and commitment to, God.
[1] Matthew 11 :28-30 NIV
[2] 1 Corinthian 9:24-27 NIV
[3] The Practice of the presence of God, 2nd conversation.
Run no. 68 – The Way Out is Through
Posted: 22 November 2016 Filed under: Non classé, persistence | Tags: God walks with us, heroic running, persistence, psalm 23, puddles, rain, the way out is through Leave a comment
Run No. 66 Distance: 4.53 miles (7.3 km) Time: 41’20” (PB 38’ 38”)
Run No. 67 Distance: 4.53 miles (7.3 km) Time: 43’39” (PB 38’ 38”)
Run No. 68 Distance: 4.53 miles (7.3 km) Time: 47’32” (PB 38’ 38”)
I’ve done that running-hiatus thing again. I haven’t been for a run for about 5 months. There are lots of reasons, but they are mostly to do with the cowardly avoidance of discomfort. But hey, I’m back and at it again.
You know, of course, that the first run after such a long break is going to be tough.
The first 20 minutes were fine but then the body started to feel the effort and complain.
I was expecting that, I was ready for that, I could handle that.
What I wasn’t expecting or ready for was that my usual route was flooded.
We have had wet weather for a few weeks now and the past 24 hours have been constant heavy rain. The already waterlogged ground has not been able to cope with this rain and the rivers are now bursting their banks.
As I began my loop of King Lear Lake in Watermeads Country Park I found myself running through sections of the path that were under water.
The first sections were short areas of flooding and the water was only a few centimetres deep, so that didn’t unduly concern me.
However as things progressed the sections of flooding lengthened to hundreds of metres and the water depth rose considerably.
The water was freezing cold, dirty and the depth of it forced me to high-step to avoid tripping. The extra effort required, by a body that was already suffering, was not inconsiderable!
Everything in me said stop; turn around; find another way; go home!
But I’m a runner.
Runners don’t do that.
So I did what runners do, I found a way to convince myself to carry on.
I told myself –
“I’m wet already.”
“This extra effort I’m being forced to do will pay dividends in fitness.”
“Don’t be a wimp!”
And so on…
And it worked. I made it all the way around. At times the water was just below my knees and I was forced to wade rather than run. But I never stopped.
I felt pretty heroic. The odd random dog-walker shouted their surprise at my bravery/stupidity! It felt pretty good.
I’m almost certain that I will be the only person to run around King Lear Lake today and I am good with that. It is a kind of victory.
Reflecting on this I was reminded that the greatest prisons that exist are the ones inside our own heads. When we are faced with an unexpected challenge – like unforeseen flooding – the greatest factor on whether or not we succeed is whether can imagine ourselves succeeding.
Without a positive mental attitude that can envisage success being possible, we will not even try to face the challenge; we are already defeated in our own heads.
In life most of our greatest challenges are the ones that we cannot foresee – unemployment, bereavement, relationship breakdown, serious illness or accidents.
It is in these moments that our mental approach is crucial. Can we see a way through? Can we imagine a life of joy and hope on the other side of this trauma?
It is here that a person of faith has a great advantage. We believe that God controls the course of our lives and that whatever we have to face, God has allowed it.
All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old.[1]
If God has allowed it then he must know we can get through it and he must know that something good can come of it, as I don’t believe that God allows pointless suffering. Whether that god is something being transformed in us, or some benefit for others – sometimes it is not easy to identify the good. But I cannot conceive how God can be true to the nature he reveals in the Bible if he allows suffering that has no point.
The other great advantage a person of faith has is that we believe that when we open our lives to God we do not walk alone.
Even if I walk through a very dark valley, I will not be afraid because you are with me. Your rod and your shepherd’s staff comfort me.[2]
Often the only way out is through – running teaches us that. Life teaches us that. How good to know that you go through it with the God who knows the way through who knows that you have the capability to get through, and who will accomplish something worthwhile in the process.
Keep on running.
[1] Psalm 139 :16 ICB
[2] Psalm 23 :4 ICB
