The month of January is, to me, the gloomiest month of the year. Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is a long way off, and any sort of holiday seems too far off to even think about. The days seem to drag on and bitter coldness freezes any hope of flowers peaking through. Sickness reigns in households and seems as if it will never leave.
During this month, I often have to remind myself of the race we’re in. This race isn’t a race to finish first, or second, or even third--our race is to finish and finish strong. Hebrews 12:1 sums up how we’re supposed to run this race, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” As the passage says, we need to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles‘ and run with perseverance and endurance. This isn’t a sprint, this is a marathon.
During a marathon, it gets discouraging. The mile markers progress steadily, but the miles seem to repeat themselves. Tired feet trip over themselves and every muscle aches. You know you’re farther along with each step, yet you still feel so far away from the goal, from the prize at the end. The prize at the end slowly fades from the mind until you can’t seem to remember why you’re still in the marathon at all. Why are we still running with perseverance the race marked out for us? To see Jesus face to face. In the end, that will be worth every stumble, every wrong turn, and every single second of discouragement along the way. One day, we’ll see our Savior face, to face.
Kayla Joy
