The Prize

I don't know about anyone else but I have been glued to the TV for the past 2 weeks watching the Olympics. I LOVE every 2 years when they come on TV! I am constantly amazed at the physical and mental endurance those athletes have. For some reason this year I have been really sad for the athletes that have fallen or lost their chance at the last moment. For 4 years they train, eat, sleep, endure, push, give everything to that one chance they have to be "the olympian." To win Gold...it all leads up to that one chance and then they fall..or they mess up. However they fail they miss it by 1 second or one jump and all that training doesn't get them the very thing they endured all of that for...no medal. I think to make it to the Olympics at all is an amazing accomplishment but what are they there for...to win the PRIZE! To be the elite and the best. Their family and friends all there watching in anticipation. Parents who have given up everything to get their children to the point where they are at. And you see it time and time again, even when that olympian falls or messes up..who is still there cheering them on. When they win the Gold..who is there cheering them on. No matter what their loved ones are at the finish line proud of them either way. On the other hand I am so elated to see the person who wins the metals celebrate their victory. You can just see it on their faces...this is what I have worked so hard for..this makes it all worth it!
I am a runner. I have been a runner since I was 15 and started running cross country for my high school. It's one big passion in my life that God has given me the ability to do. It's the one thing that I can say is all mine and I do it not only for physical strength and health but also for my spiritual, mental and emotional health as well. When I am having a bad day, upset, angry, sad I can go for a run and it makes me feel so much better. Running gives me confidence and perspective.
There is nothing like training for a race and crossing the finish line. I also ran cross country in college and oh how I hated the days we had to get up at 5am for practice and really hated when we had to practice 2 times a day. On race day when I crossed the finish line knowing that I had ran my heart out and done the best that I could the gratification came and those practices didn't seem so bad afterall. Even the pain during the race was all worth it once I crossed that finish line and was done. I knew in my mind that I just had to make it through the race and I knew what would be waiting on me on the other side of that finish line. The PRIZE! Water, food, friends, accomplishment, being done with it! Knowing that I could finish!! The prize was my reward!

Since college I have ran 4 half marathons. Before I met Josh I dreamt of how awesome it would be to finish a half marathon with my husband at the finish line. I would think about how proud of me he would be to accomplish such a task. The last half marathon I ran right before Josh and I got married he was there at the finish line to cheer me on and tell me how proud he was of me. It was amazing! I then decided that the next half marathon I did I wanted my child to be there. What could make a momma more happy than to cross the finish line and be met by her child?

Just like life my running has an ebb and flow. I go through stages where I run a lot and am motivated to get out there and do it frequently and then I go through stages when it doesn't interest me as much and I can't go as far. Just like life I push through a tough run to get to the other side of it and know that it has an end. The pain won't last forever and I am strong enough to handle it. Since I was pregnant 18 out of 23 months I haven't done a whole lot of running in the past 2 years. I felt this when I was running on Saturday as I struggled to finish 3 miles and felt at the end of it like I used to after 6. I am weak! I used to be able to do 3 miles with no problem! I have to get back into this...I need a goal...I need something that I can do to obtain that PRIZE. I am looking at doing another half marathon this spring and hoping that Elijah and Josh will be there to meet me at the finish line. What more of a reward or prize could I ask for?

So this all got me to thinking...isn't life like that? Like the olympian, like my running? Aren't our spiritual lives just like that. There is training and hardship and endurance to face. We are constantly getting knocked down. We are skiing down the hill head of others thinking we are about to near the finish first and then BAM we are knocked down. We think we are ready or can handle it but the fall is so hard and sudden that it's hard to get up. We may get up but the finish seems far away and we can't see it. We want to give up but we have to finish and make it down the hill. For an olympian it means four more years of training and enduring just for the chance to come back and try again for the gold.

If we are a believer in Christ then our prize is Eternity with Him. Heaven is our reward for following Him in this world. A new life with no more suuffering..no falls or stumbles, no disapointments or hardships. A life full of joyous endings and when we cross that finish line it will be the end. no more trying, no more runs..we will receive the great prize and have it forever. Great will be our reward. We should all be running our races as to receive that ultimate prize, doing what we can to get back up. It's encouraging to have your family and friends on the side lines there cheering you on as you race and cross the finish line. As we run this race of life Christ is not on the side lines but running the race beside us picking us up every time we fall down. Even at times when we think we don't need him there to help us and we can do it on our own he is still there running right behind us just waiting to catch us when we fall.

I am running my race to the ultimate prize of not only Eternity with Christ but to the place where my sweet Caleb is already at the finish line waiting on his mommy. What a day of rejoicing that will be. That thought makes me run my race more carefully and diligently clinging to Christ as he helps me down the hill to meet my son.

Love,
Miranda


"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 3:12-14


"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9