Running for our lives

Last month I took part in an annual half marathon in the beautiful town of Wellington in the Western Cape. Thousands of people enter this race every year. Some compete for prize money and others take part just for the fun of it. Whatever the reason to enter, marathons remind us of the race we are in—our pilgrim journey.

I like how St Paul compares our pilgrim journey through life with a battle to fight and a race to finish, because that is exactly how it feels. But we are never in our battles alone. “

In a marathon, there are people around us, as they are in life. And one thing we know for sure: there will always be people ahead of us and there will always be people behind us, in every aspect of our lives.

When we look at the people with whom we interact, we subconsciously assess them, where and how they are in relation to us. The people, who are ahead of us, at least in our perception, may be older than us, more advanced in their profession, physically fitter and healthier, more spiritual, and so on.

In a marathon it is the same, the people ahead of us are fitter than us, they have more passion, they are more experienced in running, they may be more motivated by the prize money, and so on. There are always people ahead of us, and we tend to admire them and draw strength from them.

The people who we think are behind us are usually younger, less experienced in their careers or perhaps less experienced in life in general, and so on. There are always people behind us, and we give strength to these people.

In a race there are also people alongside us who run at the same pace as we do. In life these people are our peers. They are probably roughly in the same age category, they might have the same experiences as we have, they are dealing with the same issues we are dealing with—we can relate to them. From these people we draw strength and we give strength to them.

And we rejoice with all of these people at the end of the race when we collect our medals.

I like how St Paul compares our pilgrim journey through life with a battle to fight and a race to finish, because that is exactly how it feels. But we are never in our battles alone.

I love the words of the Servant Song: “We are pilgrims on a journey. We are brothers on the road. We are here to help each other. Walk the mile and bear the load.”

While I was running the race I noticed a grandmother walking with her grandson who was about 11 or 12 years old. I was so touched by this young boy who could have finished the race long ago, but had the patience to walk and talk with his grandmother.

He ran ahead to get water for her at the waterstands. When she took off her jacket, he took it and put it in his backpack and continued walking and chatting with her. It was so beautiful to observe that scene.

As the boy helped his gran, so let us help each other on our pilgrim journey. Let us bear the load for one another so that with St Paul we can one day say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7).