Run, run, run

Run, run, run; chasing our dreams; sprinting towards our goals...running through life, life has become a marathon with the checkpoints along the way abandoned.  Speeding through life, the clarity of our vision is questionable and objects in the rear view mirror are but a blur.  We create excuse after excuse as to why our pace only increases and never slows.  Swift our feet, swift our tongue, both match our schedules, match our attitude.  Go, go, go until one day...crash.  Maddened by this upheaval and forced into a slow paced life, the world still runs only the crash has forced us from the role of contestants to the role of spectators.  'Run, run, run,' still the motto burning within but the body knows only slow, slow slow hence a battle arises whereby the mind berates the efforts of the body while criticizes the new role of spectator.  This role opens the eyes, opens the heart , allowing for the discovery of a lifetime.  All of the running, all of the sprinting, all of the speeding and still we are at the start, how is this possible?  So much has been missed, so much sacrificed and yet no mileage covered, nothing gained, well, nothing but exhaustion, sadness, loneliness and drifting relationships.  Run, run, run, to where, why?  The heart knows this pace leads only to disaster for the heart sees what the mind camouflages; there is no track, no trail, nothing but a treadmill to keep the feet running, running, running.  Fatigue weakens the strides as despair clouds the vision, a deadly combination to a life marathon; hence the crash.  Having covered no ground and gained no mileage, the heart reflects upon its lost years:

"Run, run, run the mantra and so we ran.  We ran for years, missed out on friendships, lost purpose for we were blinded by the nagging of the mind.  Thinking it motivation, we ran harder, ran longer until life was a culmination of runs, sprints to a finish which never existed.  Time was used as a method of checking our speed not envisioning the moment.  Fictional distance gained as miles never charted yet distance of the heart, of the soul our nonfiction story.  Muscles crapped, body screaming for a break and yet run, run, run...we continued to run and the pace hastened as if we were running from something.  Running from something we were, we were running from reality, running from life not to life, not for life as the mind would have us believe. "

Now is the chance to change our future, not the past for because of our past we are who our person of the present.  The knowledge of our past can create for us a vision of the future, a vision of our reality with God.  The reality is life is not a blur, life is not to be seen in the blink of an eye, life is to be enjoyed in the company of loved ones, in the company of God.  Without love we are nothing; without love we run, run, run; without love we know not that the heart speaks, that the heart see; without love we are lost.  This crash it is good, this crash can teach us the truths of life, the truths of our reality as centered in Christ.  No longer are we the hamster running in its ball never gaining ground, we are now free to walk, skip, dance or sit, for our feet touch the blacktop and our stride covers ground.  Swiftly we may move but that is because we dance in the sunlight and mamba among the stars.  No longer is life's necessity to run, run, run now life's necessity is to enjoy, love and be loved.  Clouds cover the mountaintop making it difficult to see the lush trees but they are there, there in beauty; they peek through the clouds, the scene is breathtaking.  Children play in the street, laughter fills the air and excitement rings though the streets yet no one is running, no one is sprinting and everyone is smiling.  In this stillness a voice is heard, a voice once heard but forgotten now speaks.  Genuine His voice, tender His tone, loving His words, "Come home to Me, I await your arrival.  You need not run, I am here, next to you.  Come home to Me.  I love you."  These words heard only as a child, heard now echoing throughout the soul bring tears as to the knees we fall.  No longer need we run, run, run now is our chance to live, live, live.  Saved from the mind, the heart now leads, it listens to God and believes His words.  Listen now, in the silence a voice is heard, God calls, He offers love and asks not that we run to find it.  Here, in this stillness, this offering presented with the hopes of a relationship, a friendship, a connection of the souls surrounded by love.  Be love, love, love and no longer will we feel the need to run, run, run; life is so much more beautiful, so much more meaningful when we love, love, love.  The spectators from the life of running, running, running are just that spectators looking past the person running wanting only to see the victor, this an impossibility as ground was never gained.  Now, living a life of love, love, love there are no spectators to be found only friendships, only bonds between souls enriched in love, forged in God.  Love, love, love...a credo discovered in the silence of faith paves the way for strides of love that we may be contenders in the glory of God.  Slowly we walk, intently we listen, tenderly we speak all because love has fill our beings, lifted our soul and cleared our minds of fictitious beliefs.  Love, love, love be love, love, love.