Back to the Rat Race?

Back to the rat race. We all have these moments. We get back from vacations, special events, time away, or even just an afternoon off. We return to the normal pace of life. And in that single moment, the joy, the excitement, the upswing of time away is replaced with a downswing of ho-hums and sighs.

Back to the rat race.

I did an in-depth research into this phrase (okay, it was a simple Bing search). Though the idiom originated in America, the actual beginnings are a mystery. A MIT professor connects it to the wheel, a hamster type wheel, where you run, run, exercise, spend great amount of energy, but you get nowhere.

Another idiomologist (is that a real thing?), connected it a circular maze, where the rat (and us) go through twists, turns, and a set of trials in a preset path on a maze built to test, exhaust, and ultimately get us nowhere. On this image, some say this is what a city might look like from above … rats scurrying around all over town but getting to no real destination … just running around, exhausting ourselves, and doing the same thing tomorrow.

So I am back … but do I have to look at it as a rat race? Do you feel you’re in a rat race? Going nowhere?

Maybe you need to take some advice given years ago …

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith …

Some thought from this …

Realize you are not alone and there are others cheering you on … even if they are not right beside you.

Get rid of baggage or weights that get in the way. Maybe you need to simplify a little. I have a few hoarders in my circle of friends and family, both hoarders of physical items and emotional items. Sometimes you just gotta cut it lose.

Get rid of sin and things we know we are not supposed to be doing. Bad habits … flush em. Unhealthy thoughts … 86 the way of thinking. I think it’s more then they cling to us, we often cling to them. Get rid of it.

Stay with it. Run with endurance. It’s tough, yes … but know running His way is worth it.

Keep your eyes on Him. Stop telling God how tough and big your circumstances are, and start telling your circumstances how tough and big your God is.

Just a few words from a fellow racer. But I am not a rat, I am a loved child of God. So are you. Run like it.