The race

And so today the world moves at a quick pace, life even quicker; one minute we are climbing mountains the next, we are wrestling the waves of the ocean.  In the blink of an eye, moods synthesize making joy muddled and sadness jubilant.  Our claims of knowledge are compromised by failure as rationale solicits the mind promising the fulfillment of grandiose dreams.  The pace of life accelerates until we find ourselves in a full blown sprint only to find there is no finish line; rather just a marathon of sprinting.  Endurance for such a sprint is not possible; exhaustion sets in and the body petrified, unable to move, unwilling to be manipulated.  The novelty of this stillness frightens for its unfamiliarity presents a series of situations never encountered, never explored thus no set reactions exist causing imbalance from within.  The beauty of life resides in our ability to choose; the attitude we carry becomes proportional to our actions and thus our consequences.  Should we choose give into the exhaustion and embrace despair, well, life falls upon us; rain darkens our days, goodbyes are forever, and every little thing which goes wrong is a complete disaster, the end of our being.  Conversely, should we choose to battle the exhaustion with the power of the heart, God's power of love infused into our beings, we immediately dismiss the rain and see only the rainbow, goodbyes simply mean I will connect with your heart forever, and that which seems imperfect is labels for what it is...life.  Our existence depends not upon the actions of others, it depends not upon the world around us, our existence depends upon our intimate acceptance of God's omnipotent voice continually speaking to us, His ever present peace and His offing of unconditional love that we may become the very best edition of our being.  Poor choices will only send our world crashing should our foundation, itself, be cracked; but, if faith is our foundation then even the dumbest choices we make will become simple life lessons.  With practiced faith as our foundation, our strides lengthen, endurance strengthened allowing us to run longer thus preparing us for any sprints which encounter along our road of life.  Let the world move at a fast pace, let it run to the point of exhaustion.   We can't stop the perpetual motion as initiated by the dawning of the logic and the trophy of the mind worshipped like that of Baal.  What we have the power to adjust is our attitude, our actions and reactions to consequences set forth by our choices, via our practice of faith.  It is easy to sit back and say our shoulda, coulda, wouldas; it is much more difficult to be present in the moment and live each moment in faith, in love.  We get caught up in the marathon and life quickly passes us bye; we put blinders on and see not the world we pass only the road ahead, even the gravel in which we tread goes unnoticed.  Finally we come to a roadblock, something which makes us stop and catch our breath.   Finding a place to rest, we notice we are not alone, a stranger has joined our break.  Conversations and pleasantries are exchanged and it is surmised that, while this is the first crossing of paths, life choices parallel and so the two become friends, both now running the road of life together.  The path somehow brighter, the air cleaner and the path less bumpy until cloud cover causes fretfulness.  Initially idealized as the perfect run, the body quickly deflates when the grayness of the road mimics the choices of this friend.  Perfection is non-existent in this world though it is sought every waking moment.  Placed upon a pedestal and idolized, no one can live up to such extreme expectations for our humanity, itself, is flawed and we, the humans, make poor choices all of the time but these choices do not define us, they do not make us bad.  The choice may have been bad but we can still be good, we just made a poor choice.  It is what we do with this choice, and thus the consequences of said choice, that makes the difference.  Defined by faith, we learn life lessons, we ask for forgiveness and learn from our mistakes moving ever forward in our journey of life, a journey of love with God.  We must remember that all persons walking this earth are human and will error; though we share in the divinity of God we are imperfect beings, we will struggle, we will fall but God will always be there to pick us back up as will true friends.  Judgment of the choices made by others only sets relationships up for failure; always criticized, never appreciated, makes for volatile meetings and hardened hearts.  Projected opinions, projected ideals upon another lend themselves to judgmental attitudes and cynical behaviors.  Let us step back and realize that the race is being run, the pace set by each runner.  We can choose to be swept up in the unforgiving, methodical sprint or we can run at a pace which is supported by our endurance of faith which is strengthened by our acceptance of self.  Once we learn to accept our being we need not place others on pedestals for the love of self, not pride, but the love of self offered by God and celebrated in the beauty of each rainbow conjures virtues of wisdom and understanding.  Perfection, now seen as a mirage, becomes laughable and life, a series of attitude adjustments coupled with the practice of the conjured virtues, becomes valued.  We can be who we are, we can run our race, we can carry those along the trail for a time but we cannot cross the finish line for them for only the heart knows the true existence of this finish line, a line which will only be crossed upon our death.  Let us run with others, not for them; let honesty flow from our lips and judgment be tossed aside that our path clear for a walk, run, hike or nap.  Just as a runner pins a number to her chest that her time may be identified upon completion of the race, we carry with us God's love that we may be identified as safe havens for those in need, for those who have become too exhausted to continue, for those who need a loving hug, a spiritual connection or a non-judgmental pep talk.  Our job, our call is not to judge rather it is to love unconditionally; not to the point of becoming doormat, that is why this race starts first with acceptance of self, acceptance of the love of God, acceptance of His charge of our person being defined by our faith.  Get up, the race has begun, do you have the endurance to withstand the race?