Running the race

On Tuesday, the Bug Hunter's class had to do the distance run for the Presidential Fitness Test. The 8 and 9 year-olds had to run 1/2 mile, and the three lucky 10 year-olds had to run a mile. They'd be doing laps around the baseball field (2 1/4 laps for the 1/2 mile, and 4 1/2 laps for the mile). Several of us moms assisted the coach with lap counts, finish placement, and back up timing. We were already at the finish line with all of our lap sticks and place cards, so I didn't hear the instructions given to the children before they started their run, but when the coach said "Ready, set, GO!", they all took off like rabbits being chased by a coyote. A couple of the kids settled into a steady pace, but most of them began to slow down after running about halfway around the field on the first full lap. As they came toward the finish line, we were cheering them on, and they would pick up the pace, grab their lap stick and run for a ways, only to fall back into a walk once they were away from the sound of our voices. I'm not sure what the time requirement is for their age and distance, but I don't think too many of them made the cutoff. As they were sitting on the bench after the run, the bug hunter asked how many of the kids would get a prize. "Son, this wasn't a race against each other," I told him. "You were all timed, and your times get sent in to a national database. They're trying to determine how fit the kids in this school are, and how fit the kids in the country are overall." One of his classmates looked up at me in dismay and said "If I'd known that, I would have run the whole way and tried to go faster! I knew I couldn't win, so I didn't think it mattered how fast I went." It hit me that whoever gave instructions to the children didn't give them the "big picture" of why they were running, leaving them with the impression that they were racing against each other. If they'd only realized that they were doing it for a greater good, they might have tried harder to finish strong, and they might have been more eager to cheer on their lagging teammates. And it makes me wonder, in this race we call life, if we don't often receive the same flawed instructions? We race against each other, trying to see who can be the "best", have the nicest house, the biggest car, the most "stuff". And if we can't "win", we get discouraged, and maybe we even stop trying. But if we get the right instructions, then we understand that it isn't how we finish AGAINST the others that matters in the end. It's how steadily we run the race, and who we bring alongside of us. It's who we cheer on and encourage. In the end, it isn't about being "first" or "best", but about simply "doing the best" that we can, whether we're in front or not. And, thankfully, it's also knowing that God doesn't throw out our times if they aren't the best; as long as we keep our eyes on the goal and finish the race, we win the prize. So,I'll try to keep my eyes on the goal, and I'll try my best to cheer on the runners around me. Because even if they have a stronger race than me, we'll all be winners at the end of the race.


Hebrews 12:1,2--Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.