Run Faster

I'm blessed enough to be visiting the place I call home.  I'm thinking I'll be blogging more about that in the near future, but I wanted to blog about tonight in particular while my thoughts and feelings were still fresh in my mind.

One of the people I look up to most in this world was giving the lesson at my mom's Relief Society meeting tonight.  I jumped at the chance to get to listen to her.  The topic for the evening was Patriarchal Blessings.  She started out by reading a talk by Sheri Dew.  I highly recommend it.  It was great.  The talk compared us being saved for the last days, to a runner who has been chosen to run the last leg of a relay.  Right up my alley.  LOVED it.  We were asked to underline/circle/highlight/whatever, things from the talk that resonated with us.  So that is what follows.  Thoughts I had as this talk was read.

So many "quotes" from this talk were just AWESOME, but the line that started a chain of thoughts was near the end where she said, "and to help you run this leg of the relay."  I started to think about the times the Lord has helped me run.  Literally.  Not just metaphorically.  Last summer I participated in my first RAGNAR.  (200 mile relay with 11 of my friends.)  During my longest leg I was struggling.  My side was hurting so bad I felt like my stomach was going to rip right open.  I've learned that I can't do anything without the Lord so I huffed and puffed a prayer.  Thanking my Heavenly Father for this amazing opportunity but I needed his help.  The answer that came to me was "run faster."  Say what?  Run faster?  How on earth is that going help?  I'm dieing!   I can't handle the speed I'm at!  How could I possibly have the ability or strength to run faster?  But I've also learned to be obedient.  So I picked up the pace.  Sure enough, my side pain went away.  Increasing my speed forced me to correct my form, straighten my posture and that sort of thing.  Thereby making my running more efficient and increasing my oxygen and all that good stuff. 

As I sat there reminiscing about all this I realized sometimes that's how life plays out too.  Sometimes when we are running the race of life we feel like we are dieing.  We feel like we couldn't possibly take any more.  We think all we could possibly need is relief or rest.  But then the Lord says, "run faster."  We respond with "Say what?  You want me to do what?  How on earth is that going to help?  I'm dieing.  I can't handle what I have, how could I have the ability or strength to do any more?  But we "go and do" and sure enough, things work out.  Perhaps in taking on more, it forces is to go back to the basics, straighten up, focus on the "form" of our life.  Cut out unnecessary things and make our selves more efficient.

"This is the last leg of the relay.  This is when He needs His strongest runners."
-Sheri Dew