The Race Not to the Swift

I was smoking along on my daily run yesterday morning, feeling pretty good. Suddenly, I heard some huffing and puffing behind me. A woman passed me as though I were standing still. I watched her trot by and wondered why did it seem she was moving so slowly...yet she was leaving me in the dust? And I don't mean this to be unkind, but she was quite heavy set. I have always been high energy and thin...and supposedly...in shape. What was this new insult?

"Have a nice day," she said as she clumped by.
"You too," I growled.
I do not understand. I thought I was moving along at a good clip. I was proud of my muscles pounding the pavement like pistons. A verse came to mind: "The heart is deluded above all else."

What other self appraisals am I woefully mistaken about? As I watched the woman skim past me, I must admit I wondered why I bother getting up in the morning.

I have a good friend who has a very smart kid. She told me recently that her goal is to raise him without him getting a swelled head. Her motto is "Progress, not proficiency." She warns him not to measure himself against others, but to move forward as best as HE can, regardless of how others are moving.

This is excellent advice. God is not measuring us against others. He has given us each specific talents and tasks. We are to fulfill the call He has for each one of us and our standard should never be each other. This is MUCH harder to live than one would think, but it is such good advice.

Still, only a few feet after passing me, the woman stopped running, and started walking. I realized she was not on mile 5 like I was....she was doing run/walk intervals! She was not in for the long haul run. She was doing sprint work. The race is not always to the swift, I thought, a little smugly as I passed her.

**************************

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. (Ecclesiastes 9:11, 13-18 NIV)



-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU