The Race for Life - The Race of Our Lives - Enduring To The End

 

The Race of Your Life – Enduring to the end

Some thoughts on our race for life

When I was 12, my year 7 teacher gave me some advice that I've never forgotten.

 As a child I was quite quick on my feet. My teacher knew this and entered me into the 100 meters race to represent our class in the sports day.

 But he gave me some advice that can be carried into our lives.

 My year 7 teacher said to me- “If you're in The Race to win it “-

… and let's face it - who of us enters a race without the intention to win it?

“If you’re in the race to win it” - he said - “Don't look at the finish line”

 That may sound like unusual advice to some of us - however he continued - “Don’t look at the finish line - look way beyond the finish line…”

 

 What he was saying is that if you want to win the race - you don't just focus on the finish line.

Because, if you focus on the finish line only - you run the risk that you will start to slow down as the end is in sight - as you get nearer the line.

 He said - “aim way past the finish line and keep running. So as not to be caught by the other runners.”

 If you run the race only to the finish that’s in sight - you run the risk that your opponent will win.

 When a runner runs a race in order to win, they don't just look at the finish line aiming for that, and then stop, dead on the line. In order to win the race, the runner focuses way beyond the line, so as to be still giving their best effort until they are way past that point.

My grade 7 teacher taught me that if you focus on the finish line only, then you run the risk of slowing down and giving less effort as you get nearer the line. When in fact you may want to give even more effort at the end?!

 

 Similarly, we are playing a long game not a finite game.

We need to look way beyond the finish line. Way past making it to Armageddon or through Armageddon.

 And unlike a runner who is just in a game, the way we live our lives, means our eternal lives and should be the constant focus of our life.

 If we tell ourselves we only have to make it a little further, we run the risk of just limping into the line or slowing down a little.

However, if we focus way beyond that point, we understand that ours is a long game. We need to be living for out Creator all day, every day as a way of life. Not just as a means to get to “The end” - in inverted commas.

 We may have the end of this system as a goal. Or we may be thinking right now - If only This Covid thing will be over. And thoughts like that do help to keep us motivated to keep going.

 However, what we all need to remember is that the way we are living our lives - to win these short-term races - is actually our way of life that will last forever. We will always serve God faithfully. Not just to a point.

 

Many in the past have lived their lives with a short goal in mind and have stopped running the race for life.  Because they thought the finish line was just around the corner, and when it didn't come at the expected time, or it didn't reveal itself as they thought it would, they stopped running the race. They were running with an end in mind.

 However, we understand that it is not a finish line we are aiming for. We serve because it's the right thing to do ..  It's for life, because it's a way of life.

Sure - those short goals can give us something to focus on for a while, but we are not in it for short term wins only. We are in this for life.

 

So - Are we running with a date in view, or are we in it for life?

Until next time - Have a great day and make every meeting special.

Fletch is an entrepreneur who has worked and trained in business and customer service for more than 30 years. He enjoys writing and delivering training on business relations and good customer service.

Fletch always enjoys a good cup of coffee with friends.