Running with the Pack
When I was in high school, I was a runner. I ran cross country and track. I did all long-distance races.
One of my favorite races was the 4x800 meter race. The 4x800 is a relay race where a team of four runners does their share of two laps each on the track before passing the baton to the next person. It’s not a sprint and it’s not the longest distance, so it requires a unique mix of speed and stamina.
Our 4x800 team qualified for State my sophomore year in high school. I was not the best runner by any stretch of the imagination, so I knew it would be a challenge. Imagine taking some of the best high school runners in the State and putting them in one place. It’s racing on steroids, and it’s exciting!
I was the first leg of the race for my team. The gun shot and we were off. The pace was fast from the start - much faster than I had ever run. I was surrounded by really good runners, and we flew around that track, once, twice, and then I passed the baton to my teammate. It was two of the most exhausting laps I had ever run, but it was also exhilarating, because running with that group of girls allowed me to become a better runner.
Here’s the deal, in our culture we have this tendency to look around and see that someone else is faster, better, or more of whatever it is. And instead of looking at that person’s God-given talents and marveling at them and seeing them as an inspiration to use our own gifts and talents for the good, we have a tendency to look inward and feel inferior, as though other people’s gifts and talents are somehow taking away from us.
But what if there was another way of looking at it? I think there is. The spiritual life is like that State Track meet race I ran in high school. I would say most of those girls were better runners than I was, but instead of thinking about it that way, I was blown away by how I became a better and faster runner by being in their pack. We flew around that track together. Some moved ahead, some fell behind, but we were running together and we were faster because we were challenging each other in a good way.
That’s what God wants us to do. He wants us to run our own unique race toward Heaven, but He never intended that we run it alone. We were meant to run together. He wants us to run toward Heaven, not looking around and thinking about how the people next to us are better at this or that in a way that makes us feel inferior, but in a way that inspires us, encourages us, and spurs us along in our own journey toward Heaven.
When we make this shift in our thinking, it can sometimes be surprising. Gifts and talents can begin to surface that perhaps we didn’t know were there. When we begin to look around and be inspired by the beauty in other people, it draws out the beauty and goodness in ourselves.
Our team did not win the race that day. And that’s ok. But I think about that race often and how that’s the way I want to run in the spiritual life; flying faster toward Heaven, growing in virtue, growing in graciousness, growing in friendship, drawing people along with me, and looking around and realizing that I’m surrounded by other people who are doing the same for me.
Who is running with you in the spiritual life?
Who is further along in the race, inspiring you?
Who is God trying to place in your life to help you run the race toward Heaven?
What are ways you can begin to see other people’s gifts and talents as a blessing and encouragement to inspire you in the spiritual life?
Who in your life exemplifies the graceful ability to draw out the good in others while also allowing their own gifts and talents to shine in a way that is healthy and virtuous?