I reluctantly went for my morning run yesterday. I say reluctantly because I had not run in several days and the first day back is usually not the most enjoyable. The mind is telling me I can do and the body is screaming, “I don’t want to go!”
As I pushed through the first couple of miles I was reminded of playing team sports when I was in school (I was no star but played a little football, basketball and ran track one year). Just as you knew you had reached your limit of physical exertion the coach would tell you to run one more lap or do 10 more push-ups or run one more set of drills. Somehow you would dig down inside of yourself and you would do it. When you were done, you were exhausted but you felt good.
As I continued my run, I thought of heroes. Heroes are people who do what they are confident they couldn’t do under normal circumstances but when the time comes, they draw on something deep inside and do the extraordinary. The rest of us sit back and marvel. All of us have more to give than we typically tap into. I can run further than I really think I can. I can probably run faster (although I am beginning to doubt this one).
But it is not just about doing more physically. I can love more than I think. I can forgive at a deeper level. I can endure more criticism and absorb more insults.
As I continued my run and my reflections (mostly on my capacity to run more) on pushing my body to run longer and faster, I was reminded of a passage in the Bible. It is often used as a benediction – Ephesians 3:20,21 - now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen!
He is at work in us doing immeasurably more in and through us than we can imagine or think. Demands come. He provides what is needed to meet them – for His praise and glory!
