Most of us know the concept of running. I mean physically going faster than a walk or jog...just running. Some people (they are strange to me) enjoy running...in fact many live for it. Others just thinking about it wears them out and makes them want to sit down. I'm kinda in the middle. I like running...well I'm not against it...but I have to have a purpose behind it...like a game (basketball I.e.) But aside from that any other form of running disinterest me to the point that I have no desire to do it. In general running goes like this. You pick a starting point...beginning of a track, in front of your house, pushing start on the treadmill, etc. From there you take off. Now where do you go?
On a treadmill...you go nowhere. You see the same thing in front of you all the time, nothing changes. Spiritually we can find ourselves on a treadmill. You fight and you push and you try...but you never get anywhere but where you are. This usually means you are relying on your own strength to get you somewhere only God can take you.
On a track you go in circles. You get 4 view points and that's it! Things might change for a while...but in the end you wind up in the same destination you started...at your starting point. Sometimes we take off running and we might let God do some work in our lives. We might see some things in our lives change...and then we realize that we never actually went anywhere and we get on the cycle of whatever. We begin to notice that we go in circles one minute thinking things will be different before realizing that we are seeing the same thing over and over.
So what about your house? Seems like a good place, right? I mean when you take off running you head down different streets never going the same way. But we never stray far from our starting point because we know that it will always be safe. On top of that...we always return home...always. So maybe in your life you take off running...and God is doing great things in your life. But maybe that running isn't so much for the change, but for the avoidance that running allows you. In the end, you just return home to the very place you wanted to run from.
Example: I just watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants today (like the 3rd time). Each person of the group runs from something at some point. Lena from love. Tibby from life. Carmen from her dad. And Bridget from the emptiness losing her mom left. Each one of them had a different way of dealing with it. For Lena she held onto her fear and used her family as an excuse to hide her fear. Tibby went out to prove to the world that it really did suck and life just wasn't worth it. Carmen became angry and held it in until it reached it's boiling point. And Bridget ran to everything else the rest were running from if only to stop herself from feeling sadness about the loss of her mom. In fact at the beginning she took off running with no shoes on right after her mom's funeral. In the end they each found out that it just wasn't worth it. Lena stood up to her family (respectfully) and found love. Tibby opened her heart to the idea that maybe life is something we have to decide to live. Carmen opened up to her dad and in return found the love she wanted from him. And Bridget found out (with the help of her friends) that maybe running from the sadness is harder than actually feeling it for just a little bit.
In life our first thought is to run from our problems. We don't want to face them. We take off running and go one of three places. But these three place as we have discovered only lead us right back to where we started. But I think I would rather find a place other than a fear of people, other than insecurity, other than my past. I want to find a place where I can be free...a place not called home. A place that once I get comfortable I will leave and never return. Running from our problems...is easy. Facing them is the hard part. When we face them we admit that it hurts. When we face them we admit that we are weak. When we face them we admit that there's something more. When we face them we know it's a cry for help. When we face them, we eventually find freedom. A freedom that running will never be able to give us.
Perhaps in our lives...we shouldn't run. Running only brings us back home. But in this case home isn't where we want to be. Think about this...who truly feels free at home. I don't...never have! I always feel like home is just a place I go when there is no where else to be. We stay home where we know we are safe. Life is more than just getting through it. So now instead of running from our problems, from our fears, from our past, present, or even future...let's stand up and face our problems head on. I'm sure God would love for us to tag along and see the other places planned for us. (And I need to follow my own advice...but it's hard.)
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