Many people have said that they have grown a lot more through hardship and difficulty than they have ever grown through easy times. I think looking back and reflecting on my life I have seen that to be true. It is much like running a long race. I remember running the Syttende Mai twenty-mile race from the capitol building to Stoughton many times and cruising with six- or seven-minute miles to the far southern edge of Madison. I was feeling very sure of myself, and was very thankful that I had done the proper training and the weather and other things were cooperating. But when I hit the wall at twelve miles in or fifteen miles or when I was on the edge of Stoughton on Highway 138 and got light-headed because I had not drunk enough water, I really learned a lot about myself. I was forced to dig deep, and when I got to the sprint near the end from the library corner to Mandt Park (the last half mile or so) I knew that I could accomplish much more than I ever thought I could. If I had not subjected myself to that level of challenge, I would never know that of which I was capable.
During these last eight weeks or so we have all been challenged in many ways. In each week’s prayers we pastors have tried to enumerate some of what people are going through—dealing with the coronavirus itself, having family members who are dealing with it, losing someone to death through it, having to be socially distanced from most of our family and friends, losing jobs because of the social distancing, having a depreciated income as a result of it, not being able to be in public worship because of it, etc. The list goes on and on. When I reflect on my part in it, I know that I have to this point been touched by only three or four of these challenges. I certainly have no reason to complain, even though I find myself complaining at times… lamenting really over this course of affairs. I know that I have grown in self-discovery through this experience. For example, I realize how most of the time I will choose activity and excitement over passive experiences and quiet. I like competition. That is why I miss watching sports, pulling for my team(s) on a daily or weekly basis. I am far more of an extrovert than I have made myself out to be. That is one reason why I miss the normal church experience at worship where I can socialize with others. I like to get together with my close family members, to play games and baseball with my grandchildren, and to actually give and receive hugs with my children and grandchildren.
What have you discovered about yourself in your experience of living with the coronavirus “safer at home” new way of life? How have you grown through that experience? What things to do you lament about it? Some have said that there is a lot of grieving we experience, as we let go of the old normal way of being and find a new normal. How does that effect you? I find myself sometimes feeling sorry for myself, and often wondering about the meaning of all of it. It is helpful to me to think of it as a twenty-mile run (a marathon) and realize that there are walls that we will meet and that we will have to get through. But in and through it all, we know we are not alone. God is with us all the way.
Let me add to this entire mix the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul talks about having a thorn in the flesh that God did not take away from him even though Paul prayed regularly for it to be removed. People have hypothesized what that might have been—perhaps a physical ailment, maybe depression, or maybe even an addiction of some sort. Regardless, Paul came to understand that this thorn in the flesh turned out to be good for him. He writes in verses 9-10 of 2 Corinthians 12, that when he prayed to God to remove this ailment,
"He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, most gladly I will boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in reproaches, in hardships, in persecutions, and in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
In a way Paul was looking at the good of what could come from his difficulty, and he found it. We could well do the same during this Covid 19 crisis. It has led us to feel much weaker than any of us want to be. But God’s strength can be found here. We may often feel like I did at the four-mile mark in the Syttende Mai on top of the world and not need God’s grace. But when we hit the wall, as we may have done several times during this strange time, we know what God being with us really means. We know what faith is all about, trusting that God will pull us through even when we are not sure we can or will make it. And if as so many experts say we will be living with this for a long time, we will learn what Jesus going that supreme mile to the Cross for us really means for our lives. If Christ could do that for us, then Paul could get through his hardships. We, too, can walk with Jesus and Paul through the Cross all the way to the finish line.
Running with Jesus,
Pastor Roger
