Thursday, August 8, 2013

Life is Not a Race

Since I've been on vacation, I've gotten three calls about people dying within the space of a week.

All that sadness, makes me want to appreciate life a little bit more (so I've included a few pictures from my vacation.)

As I was running recently, I got to thinking about life and realized that life is not a race. We hear it so often, but I don't think we stop to think about why.
Life is not a race because:

  • A race is a defined distance - whether very long or very short. Because we know this we can adjust our pace accordingly based on where we are. If you're running a marathon, pacing is very important. If you're a sprinter, you run as fast as you can until you reach the finish line. In life we don't know how much time we are allotted, which makes it very difficult to know what pace we should be running at which time.
  • A race has other competitors - when competing, we become familiar with the field and gauge ourselves against the others. Our goal is to win or do the best we can. During the race we are competitors, but afterwards we don't have to be. Competition breeds comparison. Since life is not a race, we shouldn't get stuck in comparing ourselves to others.
  • You don't always have to stay in your lane - At the start of a distance race, you stay in your lane but for the majority of the race, after the cut over you can run in whatever lane you wish. Sometimes you have to run on the outside to pass people or to avoid others. Sometimes you can pass on the inside. A race is won from all lanes.
  • We don't all have to run in the same way - Do you remember Michael Johnson? He had a very unconventional form, yet he was able to break many records.  Many coaches tried to change the way he ran, but he only had great success when he ran the way he was inherently made to run combined with some techniques. There is conventional wisdom and then there's what works for you. 
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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Life has similarities to a race. With God's help, we can persevere and navigate our way through this life and receive what He has in store for us.   

Beach in the Bahamas
     
Boone Hall, Jamaica

Another Beach in the Bahamas
Hubby & I in Paradise Island, the Bahamas





2 comments:

  1. Great post and such a needed reminder for me!

    Love the pictures! Looks like you had a great time! I love the last one :)

    ReplyDelete

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