Ready or not, friends, summer is HERE and you know what that means— sun, sand, shorts, and swimsuits. Love it or loathe it, summer kinda forces us into thinking fitness and healthy thoughts as we give ourselves a motivation speech before swimsuit shopping. Everyone’s favourite pastime. For some of us, we suddenly realize we should have started our fitness regime on Boxing Day in order to reach our goals by summer… But it’s all good— we’re in this race for the long haul, whether we take baby steps on faltering feet or gallop like a graceful gazelle. Plus, hello, it’s SUMMER!
In the world of fitness, how do you feel about running? We tend to fall into one of two camps: the enthusiastic, marathon-goal, effortless sprinters, or the eye-rolling, couch-preferring, pretty-much-exhausted plodders. Personally, I think I’m somewhere in the middle, I love the IDEA of running. Unfortunately, my body is not always agreeable.
Running an actual race is a whole other thing. That gets most of us skittish. Yet here we are, each one of us running the “race marked out for us”, the race of our lives. Some shuffle, some struggle, some bound with effortless energy toward the goal. Those “effortless energy” types have one thing in common—they are all in REALLY GOOD SHAPE. They shed the pounds and got rid of any hindrances.
What is it that “hinders” and weighs us down in our pursuit of living a Christ-filled life? It’s so easy to be drowned by worry, enslaved by fear, consumed by work, distracted by the sparkly things in life, or simply disillusioned. When we carry these extra pounds of sin— and that could be absolutely anything that takes our focus away from the Lord— the race is decidedly harder. It’s like running through bog mud in pouring rain. The journey is miserable, the blessings to others and ourselves are dampened, and we are tangled miserably in our hindrances.
We need to be in shape spiritually.
That doesn’t mean we have it all together right now— we are running a race, remember? It’s quite a long one. Think marathon (sorry). Just as that focused runner prepares for the marathon by losing any surplus weight to run lean and keen, so we need to “throw off’ the excess baggage weighing us down. Not flippantly disregarding our sin, but rather laying it down before the One who bears our every burden. Sometimes it can be a painful process, but once that metaphorical Band Aid is stripped off, we heal and move much more easily and freely. And then we can joyfully and energetically run the “race marked out for us”.
The good news? We aren’t in this race alone! God so desires for us to live joy-filled, Christ-glorifying lives, and He WILL sustain our every step. The faltering foot, the confident stride, the desperate dash, the persistent plod, the weakest limp… He will never leave us to run alone. Never.
And so in this new season as we launch into summer, it’s healthy to reflect on how our race is progressing, and to keep a check on what’s weighing us down. All of us have some spiritual slimming to do in order to run effectively; it’s an on-going process, isn’t it? But with God as our Sustainer and His Word as our nourishment, we can strive to strip off our sin, shed the spiritual fat, focus on Jesus, and “run the race with perseverance” all the way to the finish line.
Transforming hindering pounds to limitless bounds, and spiritual fat to fit. 😉
Here’s to a happy, healthy summer—
Linking up with some fabulous encouragers! Check them out:
I’m your Coffee for Your Heart neighbor over at Holley’s, and I love how we eneded up in line next to each other AND we both used the same Bible verse and marathon theme in our posts–it really is a small world! I appreciate your call to not ‘flippantly disregard our sin’–that’s so easy to do in a culture that has few values. Thank you for your encouragement!
Anita— how cool is that? Great minds CLEARLY think alike… 🙂 I’ll hop over to check yours out, too. Thanks for taking the time to stop by—blessings to you!
Great inspiration to start the summer off on the right foot! Have a blessed week!
Thanks so much, June! I appreciate the encouragement 🙂 Blessings to you!
I absolutely LOVE your post! I’m a runner and recently wrote a devotional book that highlights the parallels between running and our journey with God. The scripture in Hebrews is my central focus. So many powerful truths!!
I am looking for opportunities to guest post and send bloggers a free book to give away if you’re interested. (Embracing The Race:40 Devotions for the Runner’s Soul)
Blessings to you!
Connecting with you from Sitting with Friends
Thanks so much, Lisa! Your devotional book sounds wonderful… I can totally see how you could draw parallels there. And those verses in Hebrews are awesome! I’ll for sure let you know if I need any guest bloggers in the near future— thank you for your kind offer. Blessings to you 🙂
Laura, I love how you focused on “spiritual fat”! It is so easy to get focused on the physical aspect of things – like our bodies! – without taking the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and see that our greater need is a spiritual one. This is a good reminder for the summer months when we may tend to get distracted with activities and forget the important race that we are still running.
Thanks so much for your encouraging words— it’s that season where we tend to obsess somewhat on the physical body! You’re absolutely right— taking the time to sit at the feet of Jesus should be a priority, especially when we generally have more “free” time in the summer! The race goes on… blessings to you!
This is a great way to rethink our spiritual excess we have.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and comment! Blessings to you 🙂
Laura- thank you for this reminder about laying our sin before the Lord.
I’m not ready for swimsuit season;)
Visiting from By His Grace Facebook group
You’re so welcome, Julie— it’s something I need to work on, for sure. Yeah, I’m procrastinating buying a new swimsuit for my upcoming vacation, but it has to be done! :/ Thanks so much for stopping by!
As a long time runner, I love the analogy you use here especially in reference to summer specifically. As a teacher, the time off gives me space and time to really evaluate my spiritual life a make sure my steps are aligned with God’s will. Love tho food for thought. #HisGraceGirls
Thanks so much for stopping by— lovely to hear this post resonated with you. Enjoy your summer— and your running! Blessings to you 🙂
Such a great concept Laura! I had never thought of this passage quite this way. Will be considering what spiritual slimming can happen : ) Thank you!
Thanks so much for you sweet comments, Bethany! I have plenty of spiritual pounds that need shedding 😉 Blessings to you!
It is an ongoing process, and one I’m so glad continually works out in and through me. I think one of my favorite things about this journey of faith is that so long as we moving forward, God is so faithful to meet us in brand new and amazing ways! Glad to be your neighbor at #faithonfire today.
And oy…clearly my coffee wasn’t strong enough to cover those typos. 😉
Haha! No judgment here— I dread to think what trail of typos I leave in my wake… 😉 Enjoy your coffee!
Hi there Tiffany— thanks for stopping by! Yes, I’m so grateful that God is faithful ALWAYS. Movement is certainly key. Blessings to you 🙂
Great post, Laura. Thank God it is a marathon and not a sprint. And … that He is patient and never leaves our sides as we fall down and make the race harder for ourselves. Summer blessings to you!
Thank you so much for you lovely encouragement, Donna. Such a comfort to know God is always with us— every step of the way. Blessings to you 🙂
Thank God we are not running this race alone! Hebrews 12:1 is one of my favorite verses and what I use to remind myself we’re not meant to this on our own! Beautiful post!
So very true! I can’t imagine even attempting this race alone. Thanks very much for your lovely encouragement— it’s so appreciated 🙂
Visiting from H*W – great post and beautiful blog.
Thank you so much! Always lovely to hear from a fellow Hope*Writer! 🙂
You are writing my heart or this summer….Love including our spiritual shape-up in the summer months!
Thanks Crystal— always so encouraging to hear from you! Hope you have a beautiful summer 🙂 Blessings to you!