The Marathon We Run

Today I was catching up on Don Miller's blog (Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What) and was struck by his post.

One of my favorite bands is MxPx.  They've been with me for almost 20 years now, and their music has gotten me through a lot. 

They have a song that always leaves me in awe when I listen to it.  It's a song about my life, or so it seems. 

I've been running for so long for all these years

There's not much point in holding back the tears

And now the tears fall right out of my face

Sometimes I feel like I'm the Energizer Bunny.  I keep going and going.  There comes a time where my batteries begun to die.  But I can't stop to recharge them., I have to keep going.  Eventually the running gets to us, and we crack. 

I've forgotten what I'm running for

Maybe I'm running in place, running in place

There are so many times I feel like the above lyrics.  Why am I running?  Why do I feel that I have to do all the crap that I do?  Is it accomplishing anything?  Or am I running in place? 

Seems like it's all been said a million times before

Seems like I've already been through the door

Why am I always running at this pace?

There are many times that I feel like I just need to slow down.  I remember a particularly stressful time during school.  I had to write paper x and y, and study for test z and a.  There just wasn't enough time in the world.  I wasn't sleeping in order to run the pace I had to.  I had a friend tell me that I needed to slow down, take a break, and relax.  Easy for them to say! 

Exhaustion finally caught up with me and I decided to take a 30 minute nap.  I set my alarm.  Slept through it and woke up 2 hours later.  At first I was upset, but then I realized that the pace I was setting for myself was a pace that was too fast.  What pace are you running at right now?  Maybe you need to slow down and smell the roses. 

You walk, I run. You walk, I run.

I don't even think about it.

You walk I run. You walk, I run.

It's so easy to get caught up in the demands of the world and feel like you need to run a marathon to keep up.  The worst is when you're moving a million miles a minute and it feels like everyone else is moving at a slow walk. 
 
Perhaps there is a speed limit in place for a reason.  Going to fast leads to accidents.  Wouldn't the world be better if everyone took a deep breath and slowed down just a little bit? 
 
If you're like me and in the middle of a sprint perhaps its time to slow down.  I know, I know, there's not enough time to slow down! 
 
Do you feel like you're running in place?  Slow down and crack open the Bible.  It's a great place to find direction. 
 
Take a water break.  Drink from the fountain of Life.