To Run and Not Grow Weary

At first, it wasn’t too bad. We left our offices, schools, places of worship, shopping and entertainment. We watched movies at home. We worked from home. Our students went to school online. We ordered groceries and clothes online. We learned to shop for everything from home.

And since we were home, we ended up re-modeling our homes in record numbers. We only went out to the drug store, grocery store and doctors’ appointments. Admittedly, we ended up thinking of more and more reasons to go to the store when we got a little stir crazy, but for the most part, we did our part and stayed at home adhering to the rules of self-quarantine.

That was when we thought it was all going to be over by the end of March…or April…or June…or July. Now, we’re hearing we won’t be back to normal until 2021 or 2022.

Now, we’re beginning to wonder if we’ll ever get back to “normal”.

And it’s getting old.

When it first started, we were all pulling together. We washed our hands and we stayed at home. We endured shortages of hand sanitizer, toilet paper and disinfectant cleaners. (Watching the people fight over toilet paper made us wonder how this generation would have handled World War ll). We were told things would be back to normal by the end of April and then, the end of May. We ended up cancelling most of summer – camps, vacations, conferences, ball games – you name it, we called it off. If you really want to know, we cancelled life.

Now, they’re talking about the first of the year. Businesses are telling their employees to work from home until 2021. Some sectors of the economy are putting off any expectations for any significant rebound until 2022.

So, what happens when you thought all of this would be over, but then find out it’s not only not over, it’s not going to be over any time soon?

So, what happens when you thought all of this would be over, but then find out it’s not only not over, it’s not going to be over any time soon?

You do what you do anytime you realize the race is a marathon - not a sprint, but a marathon. We have to adjust our pace. What we thought was going to be weeks is going to be months. What we thought was going to be months is going to be years. What you planned to get done this month is going to take you longer, and some plans will need to be dropped altogether. Somethings just can’t be done on Zoom…

Second, you lighten your load. Every rookie hiker always over packs. It only takes a few hikes before the hiker becomes an expert in what really needs to be packed. We’re the same way in our lives. Only a few things are really necessary, but we cram our lives with stuff and obligations that not only wear us down day to day, they become down-right unbearable over the long haul. One of the interesting discoveries of COVID-19 was how cluttered our lives have become. A lot of us discovered a simpler, easier pace to our lives, and honestly, we like it this way. We will never go back to the way things were even if everyone else does.

Third, check your compass and make sure you’re still headed where you want to go. In our fast-paced lives, we can get to moving so fast we forget where we wanted to go. Several of us have had COVID induced epiphanies. Our 24/7 world rarely gave us time to think about what we were doing later today much less where we’re going with our lives. COVID made us go home and sit down. We had time to think, and for some of us, we didn’t like where our lives were headed.

And we’ve made some changes. We’re blaming COVID, but in reality, these are the changes we wanted to make anyway but we didn’t have the courage or the freedom to do so.

Isaiah 40 contains one of the most quoted passages from the Bible. Do you remember it?

28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the whole earth.

He never becomes faint or weary;

there is no limit to his understanding.

29 He gives strength to the faint

and strengthens the powerless.

30 Youths may become faint and weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

31 but those who trust in the LORD

will renew their strength;

they will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not become weary,

they will walk and not faint.

Notice the promise. It’s not that the way would be easier or the journey shorter, but that we would have the strength needed to complete it. Strength is exhausted and then, renewed. We aren’t spared tough times, we are brought through them. Jesus promised we would know struggles in the world, but we are to be joyful anyway. Why? Because Christ has overcome the world.

Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Adjust your pace accordingly but stay in the race. We’ll get through this…by Labor Day…or Thanksgiving…or Christmas…just keep running. Sooner or later, you’ll find the finish line.