The First Step
Ash Wednesday—Day One of this Lent on the Run Journey. How we can start hard things.
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.—Joel 2:12-13
It can be hard to start things.
As a coach and runner in my own right, I know as well as most that it is always the first step that is the hardest. Until I take that first step, my brain will ALWAYS try to talk me out of a run. Despite the difficulty that comes in trying to start a journey, it is probably the most important and even gratifying step.
This season represents a time of reflection. The Book of Joel opens up this series with apocalyptic warnings and the work of grace that God is doing in it’s midst. Joel encourages hearers to “return to the Lord.” A promise not of demise but of grace—“for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and relents from punishing.”
What a way to hear the witness of who God is for us and what it means to exist in God’s presence. We do not enter with fear for the journey, but instead with a desire for the work God will do in us.
It’s like that first step of a training cycle, trusting a coach to lead us along, to care for us in times of trouble, and to get us through the journey. What would happen if you never took that first step? What would happen if you never committed to it?
Think of the growth that you’d miss. Think of the opportunities that may be lost. In Lent, we journey towards the cross and a deeper relationship with God. And it doesn’t happen without that first step. It doesn’t happen without the commitment to the journey in humility and faith. Commitment to know that we can be guided down incredible trails.
Make every mile count! AMEN!!!
Lent Photo Of The Day
