Time to get running! Time to get praying!


So there finally seems to be hope for sustained nice weather. Many of you know I have no great love of cold weather or just being cold. And so, I am looking forward to warmer temperatures, and outdoor activities in the sunshine. On the few brief nice days we have thus far had this year, I was able to get out for short runs, and it is clear that I have taken the winter off. I am feeling the extra weight and the deceased stamina of not maintaining my routine, my habit of running. I am certainly not able to do what I could at the end of summer last year. If I had to run for ten miles now, it might not be possible, or it might be possible only with injury.

Thankfully, I know that with work I can take the pounds off, and increase my endurance, even if not to the point it was a few years ago, or even last year. I can be more physically fit, and as short distances of running become easier, I can stretch to longer lengths. And eventually, I will remember when three miles were too hard as I seek to run twice that distance.

I think our spiritual fitness is not unlike our physical fitness. With lack of use, it declines. When we get too distracted or busy with other things, we become less aware of God’s presence in our lives. God never leaves us, but we “leave” God for any number of other things in the world. And when trouble inevitably enters into our lives, we may find we do not have the spiritual stamina we need to get us through. But with exercise of prayer, worship and scripture study, our spiritual fitness increases.

Can’t concentrate on worship? Can’t seem to find the time to read scripture? Can’t clear one’s mind of the world to make space for setting one’s mind on divine things in prayer? It gets easier with practice, with routines, with habits. We start small, and continue to grow. And the only way is to start where we are, because without staring there, we go nowhere.

Jesus reminds us, “I am with you always.” May awareness of that be always and increasingly in your mind, as you grow in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Bond

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