Daily Lesson for October 6, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 24 through27:

24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.25Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. 26So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified. 

So last Spring I was all excited because Gabrielle had her first track meet. I gave it good odds that she was going to do really well because my parents were fast, I was fast, and Irie is still fast. Gabrielle was running the 800 meter run and I arrived there in time to get a really good seat for the start. My stomach was all butterflies.  I had not had that same feeling since I was last in cleats. 

The runners went to there marks.  They got set. The gun went off. And Gabrielle jogged around the track two whole times at about the speed of molasses in winter.  She wasn’t the last turtle to cross the finish line, but she was in the turtle section for sure. I kept shaking my head and thinking, “What’s wrong with this kid; she can’t be that slow.”  

After the race, I tried to be positive but did want to know, “Gabrielle, did you give it your best shot?  Is that is fast as you can run?”

“No. But they said it was hot out there and we shouldn’t push ourselves too hard. So I just wanted to make sure I could finish.”

I wonder if some of us run the race of life that exact same way.