Run Your Race:

My life has certainly revolved around running these last few weeks.  I trained hard and completed my half marathon recently, and I have been in a heavy competition season with my cross country team.  We had the conference meet and recently districts.  I am a very happy and proud coach to say that the girls team made it to state.  We also had a boy individually qualify.  I am so excited to get the chance to cheer for them this upcoming Friday.  I am very pleased that the girls team’s dream of making it to state came true.  At the beginning of the season, if you would have told me that the whole girls team was going to make it to state, I don’t think any of us would have believed you.  No one knew the capability of the girls, until they started competing and winning against big schools, little schools, and improving their times consistently each meet.  

However, pressure started to come halfway through the season for the girls.  They didn’t want to think about the potential of having a bad race because then that would hurt our chances of winning or where we were ranked in the state. On the drives over, they started to look more and more at other team’s ranks and times, comparing it to their own.  As a coach, on the one hand, you love their drive and their competitiveness.  They were checking out their competition and were getting ready to seize their race.  On the other hand, though, you were noticing that they were starting to feel the pressure of doing well.  They had a growing concern they would let everyone down if they did not live up to their desired expectation or potential.  

This was incredibly noticeable before the district meet race.  This was it.  This was the race to decide whether or not an individual, or hopefully, a team could make it to state.  This was the race for all the marbles.  All of the other accolades and medals were wonderful, but this was the desired prize.  This was the moment they would find out if one of their dreams was going to come true, and the girls were nervous.  (So was I!) I wanted this for them so badly, and I was nervous there was going to be another team that was going to seize the opportunity away from them with their own skill and competitive nature.  I wanted their dream to come true, and I wanted them to have the opportunity to run at the state meet.  I knew this would be a highlight from their high school career, one they would share with people in their futures.  

However, in the end, I needed them to run their own race. The only way they were going to make it to the state meet was if they did their personal best, not focused on what other teams around them were doing.  I talked to them and I reminded them to run like it was that first meet of the season, when they didn’t have any pressure or didn’t know what they were completely capable of.  They just went out and ran and did their best, and then all of a sudden they were rewarded.  Think back to the time where they didn’t know they were ranked or had many eyes looking at them.  Think back to the time when it was just them and a cross country course, a finish line, and a personal best for that particular race.  

I think we can often in life get the same way.  We can start out on our course, but then all of a sudden, we are looking beside us and are seeing someone else out ahead.  We try to console ourselves by trying to find others who are farther behind, but it just doesn’t feel the same as it did when we focused solely on where we are in life and where we are in our personal race. We can start comparing ourselves, until suddenly we are not as happy with ourselves or with our lives as we were before.  

Galatians 6:4 describes how we should run our own race and live our own life, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.” Everyone in the world has a different path from one another.  There will be some who will be called to work in a big business, making huge decisions, and there will be some who will be called to work on a mission field in a country far, far away, and everything in between.  While it is fine to be inspired by others and their stories, it is important that one doesn’t start desiring they had one another’s life and comparing the life stories.  This will not help to make one’s life better. 

I know Friday will come, and it will be a hard race.  There will be a lot of fast girls in the race.  My hope for my team is they enjoy the experience, and they do their absolute best.  I pray they will run their own race, not be wishing for someone else who seemingly is running it better.  My challenge for you all this week is to spend time in thought and possibly even journaling about where your race and your life is taking you.  Spend time thinking about your personal journey that God is blessing you with, not where God is taking others.  Then I challenge you to pray to God with praise and a thankful heart for the journey he is taking you on that is completely your own.