One of my new favorite activities is "Girls on the Run". It is a program that the Counseling Center at Epworth Children's Home has gotten our younger girls on campus involved in. Now, I have to admit that running is one of my least favorite activities. Yet running with my Epworth girls completely transforms the dreaded task. What is usually a chore has become a real time of inspiration for them and for me.
For one, they look up to me. And I know that if I slack then they will think it is ok to slack. So, I run as far as I can before I have to stop and walk. Amazingly, that tends to be much further than when I'm on the treadmill at the gym!
But no matter how far I can run, I'm still a pretty slow runnner. So as I jog, there is always someone, usually a 7 year old, walking beside me. And that of course encourages me to keep going.
Together we have encouraged each other to finish what we committed to, even though our muscles ache, our stomachs cramp, and our lungs feel like collapsing.
When I'm out there with those girls, I can't help but think of the church and what it was created to be. Life following Jesus is not easy, in fact there are times when we all want to quit...take a longer break than is absolutely needed, or just slow down. It's during those times that we need people surrounding us, walking beside us and encouraging us. Somewhere along the way though we as Christians stopped running together. We all joined our own separate gyms and spend time exclusively on our own spiritual treadmill. We need to get back to doing it together...caring for each other's souls and not going it alone.
May God help each of us run the race together!
Megan
Just a family trying to be more faithful each day.
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