Run!

When I was a youth I loved to run but I would consider myself more of a sprinter than a distance runner. I was quick but I could also run out of gas quick. In one of my earlier jobs in my life I had an opportunity to go with two friends to the YMCA on our lunch hour. They would run nearly the entire hour on the quarter mile track. I would run a mile and then go workout on other things. Then late in my working career my brother challenged me to run a 5k race with him at a holiday event. That was a major challenge for me as I had never run that distance before but all went well. I placed second in my age group and by the way there were more than two runners in that age group.

In our culture today I believe there are many runners. Both from a physical perspective and also a psychological perspective. There are runners running to things and there are runners running away from things. It seems that there is a great deal of brokenness in our world today because of people running away from the challenges in their lives. The challenges in relationships is likely the most stressful part of people lives. Things happen and immediately incidents become personal and emotional exclamations occur.

There is a simple solution to the brokenness in our world but it often seems very difficult to execute. The solution requires us to disarm ourselves in a conflict. As soon as we arm ourselves for war and shoot off the first volley it now seems reasonable to expect the same from the other party. What if we lay down our arms and emotions and embrace the greatest tool for resolution?

That greatest of tools is love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 St. Paul describes, Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Instead of taking offense when challenges arise we should be quick to run to our Spiritual toolchest and draw on God’s love to work on the best resolution. With that ultimate gift to us we then should face the other to work through the challenge. Those virtues and characteristics that St. Paul describes calls us to put the other person first. We can do that best by listening with a caring heart to the other person and putting ourselves in their shoes. Empathy is possible with love.

Another lesson I have learned along the way is that when we have something important that we want then we shouldn’t just take a walk in the park towards that goal but we should run after it. If it is that important to us than run after it! Our loving relationship with God is a relationship that we should run to because God loves us more than we can appreciate. It is God’s will to have a loving relationship with us. That relationship with God will make a very big difference in all of the relationships we have with others. Always running to God and working hard towards developing a stronger relationship with Him will bring many blessings upon us and those we interact with every day.

Run, run, run to the Lord for He will always be there when we face the challenges in our lives especially when we come together with others to work on a resolution. Remember Jesus promised, Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them, Mt 18:20. The great healer, Jesus, is always there with us.

Let us Shine Like the Son and run, run, run to God, our Father! God bless you.