“So many of us run our Christian race . . . convinced that we know the goal, idealized against hearing and receiving God’s gently, persistent warnings to realign us toward His way. We press on, . . ignoring the way God made us to achieve a prize that, though we use the language as if it’s in the name of God, often just makes us feel better about ourselves.”- Sara Hagerty
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 3:14 (ESV)
Sara Hagerty concludes Chapter 2 of The Gift of Limitations with her assertion that she sees ‘tired’ as a gift. Yet, many people press through tired and ignore it. As a result, we charge through the limits that ‘tired’ imposes on us. Perhaps, Sara suggests, God uses our bodies to teach us. Thus, our bodies tell us when to pause, to slow, or to sleep.
However, at other times, we cannot push through anymore. So, rather than give way to relief, we stew in envy. Therefore, in the process, Sara cautions, “we take slow drags of the poison of resentment and comparison.”
Consequently, Sara observes, you mind responds to limitations in one of two incompatible ways. Your mind:
- bows to the truth of how God speaks within you, or —
- serves the resentment growing like mold around your thinking.
In conclusion, Sara exhorts, look with eyes being trained to see the beauty of what’s inside the fence line. Not outside. What, Sara wonders, if this is freedom?
Hence, Sara counsels:
“Unsure of what tomorrow holds but sure of this single moment, alert to it and subject to trust within it — is how a person grows. Ever so slowly we learn to exchange our narrative for His — that our home isn’t here; our home is in Him. This isn’t sermon learning. It takes a life sequestered inside the fence line to find home.”
Today’s question: How do you truly press on in your Christian race? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The boundaries of seasons”
