Running the Race

I cannot believe it’s 2015. This is a BIG deal! It’s a bit like when it was the millennium and I felt a total failure as I’d let my 10 year old self down. Now, let me just clear that sentence up for those of you who don’t really know me. I wasn’t 10 in the millennium. However when I was 10, my teacher asked the class to imagine ourselves in the year 2000 – what we’d be doing, where we’d be living etc etc etc. Needless to say, I was not doing anything even remotely close to what I’d optimistically predicted as a 10 year old. I spent much of that year bemoaning my situation, until I realised that I was holding myself ransom to a set of innocent childish ponderings, and actually I had achieved an awful lot of things; things that I probably (definitely) knew nothing about back in 1985... So, I turned my attention to praising God, and asking him to make me content in my situation.

Well, that feeling has returned as I approach the year of a rather big birthday. Now, of course, it’s just another year. Just another birthday. Yet, society, media, fellow friends and family, seem to think that turning 40 is a pretty major thing. So, I began a list of things that I must do or achieve before I turn 40, or in the year I turn 40, or before I turn 41. Whichever way I look at it, one of them feels a little unachievable. I mean, come on, who am I kidding that I can run 1km, let alone 10!!!

And so, as I spent a little too long focusing on this list, I became aware that there was something rather large missing from the list. Where was my growth going to come from this year? What ministries am I going to involve myself in? What books should I read to help me grow in my faith, and in my areas of weakness? Who should I hang out with to promote healthy chat and discipleship?

Forget about running the 10km (tempted as I am to forget it, I am committed to attempt that challenge!), I should be focusing on running The Race:

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. (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

 I am competitive by nature, so I am motivated by prizes. What a prize there is for running The Race. Not a cheap medal at the finish line of the charity 10km, but ‘a crown that will last forever’ (v25). However, I need to go into ‘strict training’ (v25). I want to push my training schedule into a frenzy of activity, that will stretch me physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Surely this is the biggest challenge I could take on in 2015? This will take planning and effort, commitment and desire. I can hear that Rocky theme tune as I type. I’m up for this challenge. And if you’re interested, I may even let you in on my training updates via this blog ;-)

~ Claire