During every race, I focus on one girl to pass by the time I reach the finish line. Typically she is my opposite, you know one of those girls that running should be a breeze for. She is tall, with legs as long as rain forest trees and broad shoulders. She is making huge bounds with her lean body, gracefully passing everyone around her.
I look down at my legs the size of dull pencils and decide that I am going to show this girl that I too can run. I am going to pass her and leave her in the trail of my dust and determination. Who wants to get owned by a 5'1 (and 3/4) goldilocks in a race?
Nobody.
I don't look to my left or to my right, I only focus on her...on the finish, on the race at hand.
And yes, I do end up passing no name girl and smirking as I whiz to the finish line.
I just can't help myself.
Friendly competition with an absolute stranger in a road race is all in good fun. It will motivate you to push yourself more than you would have just staring at your own feet.
But, how many times have we found ourselves racing another off road?
In our hearts?
In our minds?
In our job?
In our marriage?
In our relationships with our children?
In our physical images?
Maybe I am talking to myself this time, which is perfectly fine.
I don't think I am.
I think we as women have a natural tendency to compete with those around us, especially other women.
We see their perfect couple pictures in our newsfeed, see their children baking by their sides in photographs and not to mention they just completed 200 burpees with their newborn strapped to their back.
We see these highlights of another woman's life and we look to our shadow spots in comparison.
You just nagged at your husband before he left for work, your kids just gave each other haircuts, all you see of yourself is stretchmarks and cellulite..and honestly burpees don't sound appealing to you at all.
It is so easy to fall into the trap of racing someone else in life that we lose sight of the true race we should be running-the one against the woman we once were and the race that Christ has set before us.
I don't know about you, but I would hate to get to the end of my race and realize I went off course along the way and missed the finish line, that I missed the mark I was meant to hit completely.
And that girl you thought you were racing, is at the finish line because she never knew she was in a competition with you all along.
She's probably relaxing with some banana halves with a medal around her neck, because she was too focused on her own race to notice you panting feverishly behind her.
Heads up honey, she probably lives a life very similar to your own, she just does a good job of not broadcasting the negatives to the world like the rest of us.
We like to show the world all of our surface level goodness.
Hashtag blessed.
Hashtag favored.
Hashtag thebestmomever.
It's easier to do that than to admit we are all really just trying to make it to the finish line in one piece.
You know what?
Jesus can do a lot more with a woman hobbling towards Him than a woman sprinting, never admitting how much she really needs Him to carry her the rest of the way.
Acts 20:24 ESV "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
Your "victory" is meaningless, worthless if you run a race never intended for you to run.
Don't you get it?
Passing her up means nothing.
Nothing.
You will end up with a life of no value and sadly missing every amazing opportunity and ministry Christ has for you because your focus is on something/someone other than the true Prize.
Philippians 3:14 ESV "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
I do not want to reach the end of the road and realize I missed the mark...
and that the person I was trying so hard to catch, was never even racing.
2 Timothy 4:7 ESV"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
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