Run the Race

Run that race.
Set the pace. 
Stay in your lane.

I love to run. Something happens when the whistle blows, your feet start off, and you get to set your own pace. My pace was usually a sprint to the finish type of run. I'm sure that surprises no one. I was never a marathon type runner, but I have learned recently how to run that race too.  As the fall approaches and life is changing I'm more than ever working towards a goal of staying in the right lane. 

There was a time way back when I ran several events in track. The most memorable was the 4x400 with three of the fastest sisters I’ve met, from inner-city St.Louis, and when you say "run like the wind" you would be talking about them. They astounded me with their composure and natural and graceful ability to "run the race".  It seemed at no effort to them at all. It was strikingly important for us to work up endurance, focus, speed, but most important...to make sure we didn't step out of our lane.

Disqualified. That is what would quickly happen if I stepped out of my lane. No longer fit. Ineligible. Prevented from the goal set before me. Stay in you lane.

"It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God." 2 Corinthians 3:5

After the past year of over involvement, being the "YES" and "SEIZE THE DAY" person that I have become, exploring all the lanes and all the things, I am constantly amazed at God's grace and reassurance about who he is calling to be. I say yes, I mess up, but he continues to use all the things for himself. Over saturation often tends to cause a drastic, yet intentional change. 

I can see that the work God's been doing in me is constantly preparing me for where he has me next. What I am quick to do often is to "jump the gun". This is especially hard when most of the lanes ahead are paths to a good thing. But not even the best of me can run a race covering all the lanes, and do it well. It has nothing to do with my own strength or independence, but completely God's strength in my weakness. This is so hard for me. 

His training, my practice. 
His molding, my growing. 

Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

Pastor Pete Scazzaro with, emotionally healthy spirituality, shares, "saying "NO" is in the top 10 challenges to being an emotionally healthy leader." He states, "Say “No.” Discerning what God has specifically given us to do is one of our most difficult tasks. Good opportunities that are not God’s best, and demands from strong people can easily distract us.  It has taken me decades to more fully realize how a yes I say without prayerful discernment results in a no to many of God’s precise plans for my ministry and time. 
https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/part-2-top-10-challenges-emotionally-healthy-leader/

Summer is about to end here and as a family we are starting all the plans for the year to come.  All the things are starting to be options and opportunities and my "YES" self is learning how to be more still, more patient, and more confident, that the training and learning of staying in my lane, allows me to be where God wants me. It's ok to say no. The comfort of understanding the lane lines are there to benefit me, instead of restrict me. If you are "yes" person you know how quickly your lane lines are blurred, all of the sudden you are over committed, over tired, and the time to pour into yourself doesn't exist, thus pouring out to others is not effective. Lanes are like Margins. The dictionary states margin is, "the outside limit, a limit in condition, capacity, etc., beyond or below which something ceases to exist, be desirable, or be possible. I'm going to set margins like a boss. And maybe spend a good amount of hours in my quiet house for the first time in 12 years and wonder what's next. 

The lines are painted before the race starts. Everyone has a limit, a margin. They are already there and defined for us. God has uniquely crafted our likes, desires, and capacity.  When you step out of that lane, and suddenly are disqualified, perhaps it's because it wasn't never the lane set before you in the first place. You're not running the race set out for you. You're running in someone else's lane. Oh my soul have I learned the hard way. 

Here are some of the questions I run through my head when an opportunity is set before me. And as this next season for me approaches I continue to revisit this short but essential list. 

1. Does this make my heart beat? 

2. Does this passion align with my gifts?

3. Have a prayed about it? 
5. Have I asked my people that speak into my life and know me best to pray and give advice?

6. Decide. You can move forward until you take the first step. 
7. Fix your eyes on Jesus. The author and perfecter. (Heb.12)

{Some realistic and important side notes that I am aware of and have lived}

When the lane picks you- 

I know about this lane. I'm still running ragged in it some days. Sometimes we don’t get to pick the path, or the lane set before us.  Maybe you didn’t choose cancer, sickness, the loss of a loved one, or the extreme life circumstances that have been dealt. Regardless, it has happened, and it's not a mistake. What you do get to choose is who you walk on this path with. Will you trust God when the circumstances are hard? Will you trust God in and through ALL things, and even rejoice too? He's still the ultimate crafter. And He is willing and able to, as windy and impossible as your lane may seem, meet you in it.  

"Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of age." Matthew 28:20

When you pick the wrong lane-

I know this lane too. It's called Grace. The freely given, unmerited and undeserved, grace of God. This will happen, and we serve a God of second chances. So realize it, learn from it, and move on from it. I'm probably better at this category than any other, but trying to learn. His kindness meets us here. When we realize we are not in the right lane, we often learn the quickest, and move the furthest along, in getting back in the right place. But first, finish stronger. 

"Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you." Psalm 37:5


“ Ages upon ages will hardly be long enough to allow us to experience all the riches of His grace.” ~ A.W. Tozer

The marathon type of race-
A marathon race has no lines and no limits. Some of you are running this race. Disqualified only if you can't finish. We all have seasons of short sprints, but ultimately this life is a short sprint. Stay in your lane. The marathon that it seems to be some days are "preparing you for an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I share this from a heart who is well versed in messing up and receiving grace. I've been over extended, full of anxiety, and had my plans completely stripped from me, only to reveal a richer path, a greater purpose, and a person whose deep love for me is worth all the trust in my soul. Stay in your lane friends. Run the race and finish well. 

 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7