The marathon of life

I created this blog last spring after signing up for my first marathon, thinking that it would be an online journal documenting my training and journey to the Marine Corps Marathon.  Well, as often occurs, life got in the way.  I got married, the time demands from my job increased in inverse proportion to the stock market fall, and on and on.  By a sheer miracle (as well as Scripture written on notecards and the image of my grandfather fighting at Iwo Jima in WWII as a Marine), I finished the Marine Corps Marathon last fall but without any of my thoughts on paper documenting my journey.

So here I am again on the verge of training for my second marathon with a head and heart full of thoughts.  The past year has brought so many changes to my life from the death of my beloved grandmother to getting married and suddenly living with a boy (eh-hem, man) and things unnamed.  One of the prevailing themes to emerge has been the reminder that my spiritual journey in life is not fast or easy; it's a marathon.  Following Christ requires endurance, hope, patience, death to self, and faith--faith that He who abides in me is greater than that which dwells in the world.

It's so easy in today's world to desire the spiritual sprint--that "mountain top high" or quick fix.  It's easier to pray for short-term solutions than open up the possibility of long-term growth, because when we truly open ourselves up to God's will....well, to turn a popular phrase, that's when all heaven breaks loose.  But no matter how fast we run or how easy we try to make a situation, we continually face the same truth: Life is a marathon.  Therefore, it behooves us to slow down, pay attention to our spiritual nourishment, and wait for the leader to set our pace.