It has been said that life is a marathon, not a sprint…truer words were never spoken! My husband was a sprinter in high school, winning several awards for his strength and speed. In fact, he qualified for the Pan American Games in 1971, held in Colombia, South America. Most unfortunately, his coach regretted to inform him about it, so he had no chance to participate in person. When Paul asked him why he had not told him sooner, he had no good explanation for his bad behaviour and obvious oversight. To this day, my husband gets upset when talking about his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and really, who could blame him? It does seem like a very mean thing to do to a young man just entering the cusp of adulthood. He had trained so hard for several years, and in the end, was never allowed to compete in the biggest competition of his young life. How many of these missed opportunities do each one of us experience as we travel throughout our lives? Surely, there are too many to count! Some are our own fault, but others are not. We all have regrets about things that we did and did not do. The truth is, life can seem to be just one big hurdle to get through, or one big problem to solve, each day of our lives. It is indeed a rare occurrence when there is a trouble-free day.
In the Bible, Jesus tells us that we will suffer trials and tribulations and that each day has enough worry of its own. We are instructed in the book of Matthew, chapter 6, to have anxiety about nothing. As impossible as this sounds, in our stress-filled and fast-paced world, it is excellent advice and may add years to our lives. If we are filled with dread, worry, and anxiety about tomorrow, we are unable to meet the potential for today that God put into each one of us. How much of our precious time is devoted to needless and useless worry? Often, our worst fears never do materialize! This “one day at a time” mentality is a great motto to live by, but in the grand scheme of life, how does one become an overcomer? And what is the difference between a survivor and an overcomer?
Revelation 2:7 states: “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” The Biblical meaning of a person who overcomes is one who is victorious over sin. If we are faithful and overcome spiritually, we will enjoy eternal life with Christ. But how exactly do we rise above life’s difficulties and conquer temptation and sin? In the book of Ephesians, 6:10-18, the apostle Paul instructs us to put on the full armour of God, so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes…these include: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (the Bible). At the end of this passage, Paul adds: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
This past spring, I was given the most wonderful opportunity to attend the happy event of my son Will’s marriage to his lovely partner Tessa in Europe, where they both live and work. The only problem was that my husband Paul was not well enough to make the trip with me and my daughter’s family, and he needed someone to stay with him while I was away for ten days. Despite my best efforts to put appropriate supports in place, nothing seemed to pan out until about two weeks before we were to leave. Paul’s brother and wife kindly offered to assist, but three days before my trip, Paul unexpectedly had to spend the night in the emergency department of our nearby hospital. Thankfully, his health stabilized, and he was able to come home the next morning, so I left for my trip as planned. Unfortunately, his health was up and down while I was away, which placed added stress on all of us. At one point, I thought I would have to fly home early, but Paul’s health once again stabilized with medication.
To top things off, the day prior to the ceremony, I took a big fall on the tram, flying into the air when the conductor unexpectedly took off! I happened to be carrying an extra backpack which cushioned my fall somewhat…despite having a sore hip, I managed to walk around Amsterdam for the entire day! It seemed that the devil himself was trying to keep me from attending my only son’s wedding, but God had other plans! I would like to think that an angel caught me since I never suffered any lingering effects from my mishap, not even one bruise! I ended up having the best time ever on this holiday, despite the many, many obstacles in my path. We always need to remember that ultimately, God is in control. Honestly, it would have been so easy to just stay home and miss the entire celebration. Often, we just have to keep persevering and never give up!
Rather than just being content with a “survivor” mentality, often with a chip on our shoulder, we should try to learn to be an overcomer in life. “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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Amen.
