Ready to Run

I've walked 4 mornings a week all of this year.
There have been moments when I've contemplated running.
But my mind is a simmering pot of rationalizations.
Running takes too much effort.
Running makes me tired.
Running is jarring.
I could go on.
So I walk a 2 mile circuit and I'm satisfied.

But if my body is satisfied, my spirit is not.
I'm praying, praying....praying as I walk.
I come home to time in the Word and things start to emerge.
Imprints on my sub-conscious, barely discernible,
but in certain lights....
I see a pattern.

During devotions with the kids this morning I read the following verses:
"And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the field and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.'....So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters." (Ruth 2:2,3)
And I asked my children, "Would you rather be the harvester or the one who picks up his scraps?"
Hands all around for harvesters.
"Why?"
"I'd like to use a scythe!"
"I'd get more grain."
"But wouldn't it be harder work?" She's thinking of the effort.
The others respond to her vein of thought.
"Yeah it would be easier to just pick up what you need and go home."
"Isn't it kinda hard to make bushels?"
They reminded me of me walking, contemplating a run.
I spoke truth to them and to myself, "There are two types of people in this world, harvesters and gleaners. The harvesters are the ones who learn to use the tools, who sweat and toil and get the crop in. The harvesters feed the people. The gleaners gather what the harvesters in their fullness drop. They read their books, listen to their radio shows and sermons, follow their blogs. What do you want to be?"
Grant looked at me big eyed and asked, "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

After devotions we went out for a walk. The kids were all on bikes and scooters while I puffed along behind. Posy was on her new big girl two wheeler.
And then the hill happened.
Little muffin on a bike shot past me and screamed. She was going approximately 60 miles an hour.
Without consulting myself, I ran after her.
I ran like the wind.
I caught up to her and slowed her down, but I kept running.
My body sang, "You've been training for this! You're ready for this!"
And I was.
I kept up with their wheels.
My rationalizations against running were simply ludicrous.
I was made to run.

There will be times we need to step back and glean but...
We were made to harvest.
We were made to live in dependency on God, not on man.
We were made to use our God given tools to harvest a God given crop.
We're been training for this. We're ready for this.

I don't want to walk behind the harvesters,
gathering up enough to live on today.
I want an abundance,
even if it means effort,
weariness,
jarring.
I'm ready to run.

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matt. 9:37)

My friend Julianna and I began tallking about this last month. The concept of approaching God first instead of google or books or people's opinions. The idea of letting God alone guide us, interacting with Him instead of gleaning off other people's interactions.