We could spend all our time preparing and never go anywhere.
We think there’s something more we need, something else or something better. Really, what we need is more Breath and instead we hold it, prevent it from escaping and the Life stays stopped up inside us.
Breathe.
God exhaled Life into us and we gasp for more, but it’s really all there. Everything we need for life and godliness, right down to the adrenaline, He breathed it into the dirt and we stand up to demand more.
Adrenaline is a wonder.
I skip days on the prescribed running plan and my preparation for this 10k is laughable. I worry about not having enough breath and are there hills and can I really go the distance again, all unprepared as I am?
This is where I explain why I pay money to run.
Running is cheap exercise and it’s easy and there’s not much coordination or skill involved. Buy some decent shoes and go.
But some days the go wants to not and what we all need is motivation. So I send in my check a month before the race, sign the waiver on my excuses, and I commit.
When race day comes, I run because the adrenaline surges and I paid to be here and sometimes that is all the motivation I need, and there is breath enough.
I question the sanity of it all mid-race, but I put one foot in front of the other and finish. I’m happy with my time and there are cookies at the end, a second-place ribbon, and a task accomplished.
You don’t need me to draw the parallel between running and our walk with Jesus. But what you might need to hear, again, is that all-preparation and no-action will never get you anywhere.
Even if your preparation is lacking, there comes a time to act. Ready, or not. You can only hold your breath so long and then, just the way He designed it, your body will exhale.
We started school in full force yesterday, my 13th year of homeschooling and learning right along side the ones God has entrusted to me.
I was not prepared and gasping a little.
It made my husband nervous, telling him that I wasn’t sure what I was doing and didn’t really know yet how it would all work out. He’s the one that always says, “We’ll know more when it’s over,” and he’s right. We learn as we go, but we have to GO.
Those dreams you never start, they never fail. They bring no heartache or disappointment, but don’t we learn best from the processes we go through, rather than the ones we only daydream about?
The letter you don’t write because you’re not ready, the meal you don’t make because it might flop, the mission trip you reject because you don’t think you have anything to offer, and the friendship you don’t offer because you might be rejected…none of those things ever hurt or disappointed you, did they?
Yes, they did.
You have big dreams and you have everyday things that you want to do, need to do, and have Breath enough to do.
Exhale. And begin.
We’ll all know more when it’s over.
{And if you want real motivation, tell someone your dream. Accountability is a powerful thing.}
