Dear Church,
I just finished a weekend of camping with my family out in the great outdoors. No screens, no enclosing walls, no tent within 30 feet of ours, and nothing but time to be a family recharging our batteries. We star gazed, played games, cooked s’mores, hiked, swam, had water fights, painted rocks to hide and enjoyed time under the great shade trees in our campsite.
This was just what we needed right before the new school year started and the fall season of ministry. We needed that time to catch our breath and allow God to be present in the sights, sounds and smells of God’s great creation.
How are you finding the time and space to recharge and refuel? Even if you aren’t able to leave the house, how are you intentionally making space for God to be present in the simple opportunities that you are creating?
You see, we have discovered that we are not in a pandemic sprint, but we are running the pandemic marathon. As someone who has trained and run a marathon, the intentionally planned refueling and recharging time is critical in finishing the race. As a first-time runner I watched my pace, keeping it where I knew I could sustain it and was intentional about my increments of running and walking that my coach had taught me. I finished the race in a faster time than I had trained for and it was the result of the discipline I had on the course.
Discipline is a key in running the marathon of life as a Christian. Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:1-2 to run the race of faith with perseverance, throwing off that which hinders us, encouraged by the witnesses who have gone before us (my paraphrase). What are we needing to throw off right now? Where are we drawing strength to persevere? Who are the witnesses that have led by example? How is our intentional spiritual discipline helping us to go the distance, not just to finish, but to finish with arms raised in victory, knowing that how we ran was just as important as finishing?
Blessings and love, Pastor Stacy