Running has become one of my best friends. We wake up early together, enjoy new songs together, explore new cities and roads together, but most importantly we’ve built a relationship through time spent together. Time spent together is the key here. I’d like you to experience a first mile, if you’ve never been runner, you can just humor me here for a minute.
The first mile of a run is the absolute WORST. Your mind and your body are saying terrible, awful things to you like, go back to bed, it’s cold, I have to pee, let’s just do a short run today, yeah let’s do that then go back to sleep! But you HAVE to shut it out, or you believe it and it ruins the entire run. I like to associate the first mile with the Devil, himself. I think back to the times in my life when I would just kind of dabble in a deeper relationship with God. I was a comfortable Christian, just safe and cozy in my nice square box. God would try and open these doors for me to come in and get a little closer to Him. He longed for me to spend more time with Him. I’d take those first steps, but the voice of the first mile Devil would begin to speak to me. Wait, you’re safe here. You’re doing everything you’re supposed to. You love Jesus, let’s just stay here, there’s no need to get any closer. It’s comfortable here, you like it here. That first mile devil won many times. I would step back, shut the door, and get back in my box. And then I became a runner, God taught me to shut out the voices telling me I’m too tired, I’m too sore, and he gave me strength to push through and just enjoy the freedom of the run.
That doesn’t mean running gets any easier because it doesn’t, it just means that my love for running has gotten stronger. The same goes for my relationship with Jesus. I have to trust God to shut the voice of the first mile Devil out so that I find the sweetness in His love, and can enjoy the freedom of our run through life.
When you’re running on empty…
Hebrews 12:1
Fit Grit & Grace 