A couple of times a year my husband gets a group of co-workers to come out and participate in 5K’s or 10K’s, or even a half marathon. The goal is to encourage as many people as possible to not only get some exercise, but to support the victims and families of dealing with things like melanoma, breast cancer, and nerve and spine deceases. After four months of trying to my heal from a broken shoulder, sprained wrist and elbow, and torn bicep, my husband signed us up for a 5K. I didn’t prepare for the race, in fact the most exercise I had gotten was at physical therapy on my arm…. I had not even walked across the street, much less a little over three miles.
My husband and a couple of his co-workers took off at the start at a good pace, while I stayed in the back and walked by myself. After the first mile, I was a little sore, but I was feeling pretty good about life. I decided to step up my game, and use gravity, and jog every time we headed downhill. I also jogged in as I crossed the finish line, where my husband and ALL his co-workers were standing. We all joked that at least I didn’t come in last place.
I was very sore, my arm hurt, my feet were throbbing, and I really wanted to head home, but my husband wanted to stick around for the ‘awards ceremony’… one of his co-workers had come in third place, and he wanted to support him. We got to chatting while waiting, and I was really proud of my husband whose time was only two minutes more than the first place runner. They announced the top three runners and their times, and we started to leave when they began to announce the top three winners, male and female, in each age group. We decided to hang around, as many of my husband’s co-workers were receiving awards. I was sure that as well as my husband had done, he had earned not only the metal around his neck for finishing, but I was sure he had placed in the top three for his age group. Sure enough, I was so proud of my hubby when they announced that he had, in fact, won first place for his age group! As we turned to leave, we heard my name announced! Everyone was shocked to hear I had won first place for my age group, even though I had crossed the finish line a full twenty minutes after my talented husband. We laughed so hard, my husband had run a good race …. And I… well I finished. It made us all laugh, how well did my husband really do? Were we just the only ones in our age group that finished the race?
As I look back and laugh at our first place wins, it’s really not that important that we won our divisions, what matters is that we both showed up for the race. We both finished the race. We both went the pace that we were comfortable with, yet pushed forward.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept my faith. Now there is instore for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:7-9
The ‘participation metal’ or a first, second, or third place prize is not the where our emphasis should lay; but on completing the race. No mater what ‘place’ we come in, if we live our lives according to God’s will, the only ‘prize’ we need to be concerned about is the ‘crown of righteousness’ waiting for us. We need to concentrate on running our race. What does that mean? A runner paces themselves knowing what his/her ability, their speed, their gift. Life is the same way. As you live your life, don’t compare your life to others, instead, move though life doing the best YOU can do. Live your life, run your race, to the best of your abilities.
