Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Running From Insanity

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ~ 1 Corinthians 9:24

I am an avid runner. I haven't always been a runner, but in the last decade running has become a part of who I am. I am not an elite runner, nor am I sponsored by some million dollar Nike contract. I am just a common man who likes to run. Over the past fifteen years, I have been blessed to run and complete twleve marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2005 and on my fiftieth birthday I ran a fifty mile Ultra Marathon. 

In high school I was a wrestler. I ran, not because I loved or enjoyed it, but because I had too. As a wrestler, running was a vehicle used to make me a stronger wrestler on the mat. Today, I love to run. I enjoy running! You may be thinking (as many have asked the same question over the years), ARE YOU INSANE? People who don't exercise or run, are quick to 'see' only the pain or uncomfortable aspect of exercising. "You ran how many miles???" Yet, if the truth were to be known, running has helped me to become more sane. In this crazy, rat race world of going, going, and going, if there is one thing people need, it is an escape from the 'insanity' of it all. Running has helped me to momentarily step outside of the rat race and look within the reality of myself. While running, the Lord deals with me and through running, the Lord has helped me to 'see' things concerning the issues of life I never would have received in the comfort zone of my life before running.

Albert Einstein, rightly stated the definition of insanity when he said, 'Insanity is doing the same behavior over and over but expecting different results' It seems, at least to me, that we are looking for answers to our dilemmas of life through rose colored glasses. So entrained within the comfort zone of our bad habits, we seem convinced that real change will come by doing the same things the same way we have always done them. We seem content to pursue 'change' only if it remains within the comfort zone of our lifestyles. How many times have we bought into the advertisements that promise phenomenal weight loss WITHOUT EXERCISE? Under the spell of what I call 'the magic pill delusion', we pull out our wallets, and shuck out the cash, all in the hopes of true change taking place without any changing of our habitual ways of thinking and doing. Only after the money is spent, and we are left stranded in our old habits, do we realize we once again bought into the lie of the delusion.

It has been said 'the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary'. There is no way around this principle. If we want success, in anything, we MUST work. We cannot remain steadfast in the beliefs everything will get better, while pursuing the art of laziness. Life is an adventure, that is, if you are willing to get off the couch. Don't you think its time YOU begin to run from the comfort zone of the insane idea that your life will get better by doing the same things you have done...well...for most of your life now. Its time to get off the couch of easy living, and step outside the door. No, better yet, why don't you RUN out the door and away from insanity and come run sane with me!!! What do you have to lose...but the weight of your fettered insanity!

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