It happens every spring. As I walk alongside the stream of Sun Run runners on my way to church, tears fill my eyes.
On strategic street corners, canopies shelter small groups of enthusiastic musicians whose tunes lighten my own steps as well as those of the passing runners. Friends, families and passersby cheer and shout encouragement. Some ring handbells. In the spaces between music groups and cheering friends, I hear an occasional snippet of a language I can’t place, then the quiet hush of thousands of feet, all moving together toward the finish line.
Is it this togetherness, this shared commitment to finishing, that brings the tears? Is it the simple humanness of the whole thing, 40,000 people out from behind desks and screens and steering wheels, enjoying the goodness of moving their bodies with others in community?
A girl of eight or ten runs beside her father, her hand in his. Two skinny preteen boys run together, a man who looks about seventy, and a thirty-something couple with his arm around her shoulder. A few slip toward the edge, slowing to walk for a while, still part of the whole.
Some, I’m sure, run to compete either with the group or with their own personal best. But as I walk by, the race feels to me less like competition than like community. Less like hard striving than like healthy play.
This year, the sun shone, and the route took the runners under trees laden with deep pink cherry blossom. In the gentle breeze, petals drifted toward the ground, some briefly lighting on runners like dozens of tiny butterflies.
I’d wondered, as I biked cherry-blossom laden streets the day before, whether anything could be more beautiful than the overhead arbour of blossom.
But their solitary beauty was surpassed by people running in community beneath the cherry trees.
Running the Race
Metaphors are like medicine: taken correctly, they can be life-saving. Swallowed unthinkingly, they can kill.
Does the way we swallow Paul’s metaphor of “running the race” hinder or help us toward the true goal of our life? How does our understanding of life as a race fit with what we know of the One who invites us to walk with Him?
In a world filled with potential distraction, the race metaphor helpfully reminds me that life is not without purpose. It has a goal and a destination, requiring focus, intentionality, and perseverance.
But what is that goal on which I need to fix my eyes? Not a cash award or my name in the papers but a Person. Intimacy with him is both the goal and the way to get there.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes this clear:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. (Heb 12:1-2a, NLT, italics mine)
There are times God calls us to a task that requires all of our strength and energy, and maybe even speed. But in our life with God, “running the race” with grace and love may often look more like slowing down to go at the pace of the One who paused to take children on his lap and sat by a well to talk with an isolated woman.
Metaphors abound in Scripture. We’re commanded not just to “run the race” but also to “walk in love” (2 John 6), “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5:25), and “remain in the Vine” (John 15:4-5) as we also seek to “be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). I’m grateful for this mix. We need each metaphor, and we need the gentle tension of holding them all together.
As we continue to run this race in community—the ultimate Son Run—may we be given the grace to run toward Jesus, to walk in love, and to be still and know that God is God, keeping in step with the Spirit’s moment-by-moment invitations.
Great pics Caroline capturing the day & how blessed we are with this blossom time. Encouraging message as usual in these times when we need them more & more. God is good. Blessings Cathie
Thanks Cathie. Yes, God is good. And I’m so grateful for how the outpouring of blossom is a visual reminder of that.
Caroline, I just loved this . It was so beautifully written, so tender and full of richness.. It resonated with me and filled me with joy.
You are so gifted .
Thank you for sharing your gift.
Thank you, Barbara. I’m grateful there was joy here for you!
Our friend Ernie Lemieux was running again this year and has run. The Vancouver Sun Run since its inception 40 years ago. He was interviewed on CBC news. I wish CBC news had also interviewed you. Loved your description of the runners but especially running the race set before us. Good article! Loved it.
Thanks for your comment, Linda. And wow, 40 years of running the Sun Run is quite a feat! Good for Emie!
Thanks for this beautiful essay, encouraging a “runner” here ub Caur, Egyot, where it’s 105F, and the run gets pretty tough, Blessings!
Oops…sorry I forgot to edit “in Cairo”!
Phew, that’s hot! And yes, I’m sure the run is tough there in a whole range of ways. Much grace and strength to you!
Thank you for this special editorial! This is a keeper for me🙏👍🌺. Barbara
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Barbara!
Thank you so much for this! What a great reminder that we are not alone in this race! I love this picture! Love Aunt Doreen
Thanks Aunt Doreen! I’m so glad you liked it.
Beautiful, made me want to cry!
I do miss the blossoms of Vancouver!!!!
Thank you so much for this beautiful post.
Sending a hug. . . The Vancouver blossoms are so special, aren’t they?