Any marathon runners out there? Not me. I don’t run, let alone run for insanely long distances. But I have had very long, hard assignments, seasons of life like marathons, where fatigue is a constant struggle, and the end seems farther away than my remaining strength can sustain me. How can we endure a long, hard assignment, a marathon, in life?
Note about the image. I took this picture during a tour of the DMZ in South Korea. The assignment of protecting the demilitarized zone started in 1953 and continues to this day, more than 70 years later, a true marathon.
My Mysterious Mind
For the past four years I have served as congregational president at my home church. During that time, I have worked with four different pastors and three different chairmen of the elders, the other people who comprise the leadership triad. For all but a few months of those four years I have had no vice-president.
Four years in the same role under these conditions has been a marathon, not a relay race. At no point could I say, “I am tired of running, please carry this baton for a bit so I can rest.” I prayed repeatedly for a vice-president and my closest friends prayed, too. But the responsibilities remained mine, and mine alone. Some of life’s assignments are like that, long difficult seasons without a partner with whom to share the duties.
I became president a few months after the previous president stepped down. He had expected the vice-president to take over the president’s duties because he (the president) knew it was time to resign. Severely beaten by the battles of church leadership, his well-being depended on his resignation. And trying to serve in a role with too much accumulated injury isn’t good for the leader or the organization.
A few weeks ago, at a lunch meeting with our new pastor and current chairman of the elders, I emphatically expressed my need for a vice-president and possibly someone to become president when my term ends in December. I described how, if I continued to serve, my attitude would shift from extreme weariness into resentment. I knew from the responses of these two leaders that they had heard my plea for help.
I felt like someone who had been tending to the wounded in a battle for a long time, ignoring my own injuries. The caring response of someone new arriving on the scene shifted my awareness. As though a rescuer who noticed me among the wounded, their compassionate response was, “Wait! Are YOU bleeding?” Which prompted me to notice the extensiveness of my need for rescue.
A few days ago, I learned that someone has agreed to come into the role of vice-president and possibly assume the role of president when my term ends in a few months. My initial response was gratitude and relief. About 24 hours later I felt terrible and unsettled. Finally knowing I would have help and might even be able to hand off the baton of leadership, I dropped into a place of painful realization of my own condition.
A good friend is caring for her husband whose dementia is stealing him bit by bit from her. She seems fine until I ask her how she is doing and really listen for the answer. Then she’s fighting back the tears. Running a marathon, enduring a long, hard assignment, there isn’t space to feel what is happening. Having someone notice, or knowing help is coming, strength gives way to the reality of weariness behind it.
Are you in a marathon, struggling with a long, hard assignment? If not you, do you love someone who is in a draining, seemingly unending, trudge? Where can endurance for a marathon assignment be found?
Message of Mystery Acres
Being in the forest saves me. I can be in an extremely worn-out, anxious state of being, but be instantly renewed by the fresh air, trees, and rocks. Like a drink of cool water on a long, hot day of toil, the forest is delightfully refreshing. Whether it was the unrelenting trauma of the pandemic or the marathon assignment of church leadership, Mystery Acres has often been my refuge and place of restoration.
Where is your place of renewal? Whatever the long assignment in your life, even if it’s just the extended difficulties of life in a broken world, each of us could use revitalization. Life is full of joyful times but also days of darkness and suffering. Enduring long, hard assignments, including the task of being alive in an aging body, requires times and places of renewal.
The message of Mystery Acres invites us to find and enjoy places of regeneration. Sometimes it’s a place in nature; at other times it’s a favorite chair and a good book. On mornings I am not in the forest, I like to pause for a few minutes to sit in a recliner facing east and absorb the warmth of the rising sun. Resting here, with two dogs on my lap, I wait for my batteries to recharge for the day. Replenished, I rise, like the sun, and start another leg of my marathon.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“For such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)
When I first became congregational president, I asked church members to write encouraging verses on note cards for me. Several cards held the famous phrase from the book of Esther, “for such a time as this.” In this Old Testament story, a queen named Esther was compelled my Mordecai to appeal to the king for the lives of the people of Israel. To do so might offend the king so severely he would have her killed; to not make the appeal would mean the doom of the Israelites. Her willingness to step into the difficult and dangerous assignment resulted in the preservation of many lives.
The essence of Mordecai’s words to Esther, “for such a time as this,” have been offered to others, frightened by the Lord’s assignments for them. And, for me, this phrase urged me to step into what I knew would be a tough job, leading a people traumatized by the pandemic and a trapped in a tangle of conflict. I knew the assignment would be hard; I didn’t know it would be four years before getting someone to help carry the baton of leadership.
The new pastor sent me an encouraging text after that recent lunch where I shared my deep weariness. His final words were “He who knows thankless labor has called you for such a time as this. Thank you for being our ‘Esther’!”
There it was again, four years into my long assignment, the reference to Esther. Like a second bookend to my time as president, I knew my season of hard service was soon going to end. And I have deep peace about the upcoming phase of sharing the baton and potentially handing it over completely at year’s end. No one had compared me to Deborah, a wise judge who served her people for many years. The only comparison was to Esther, whose difficult assignment was just for a time.
Are you in a tough season? No matter how difficult, it is only here for a time. All assignments, even the really long ones, do eventually end. I found a beautiful song, “For such a time as this,” by Wayne Watson. Perhaps its words can bring you strength and courage.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice reminds us to think of our assignments as part of the life we were each meant to live, with tasks only we could fulfill. Whatever assignment is long and difficult for you, the marathon is one for which you have been prepared, for such a time as this.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of marathons, finding a way to endure life’s long, hard assignments? First, it means recognizing that some assignments are marathons, not sprints. For many of life’s duties, the effort required cannot complete the job quickly. Like running a marathon, pacing is key to endurance. To keep going for the long haul means moving forward at a sustainable pace. Overdoing today’s lap will result in tomorrow being a day of collapse.
Instead of trying to accomplish too much, focus on just doing the next thing. Like a runner with many miles to go, don’t focus on how much of the marathon is left, just the next few steps. What is the task just ahead? Tomorrow’s tasks will wait for tomorrow’s energy. Just do today’s work with today’s energy.
As an old mom to young parents, remember parenting is a marathon, not a sprint. I can remember thinking, in disbelief, that the long, hard days of active parenting would ever end. But they did. Parenting with children in our home gave way to a quiet home. I remember my mom talking about how quiet the house became after everyone visited and then left. Now those experiences are mine. My marathon of active parenting was a long, hard assignment, from 1986 when our first daughter was born until 2011 when our son graduated from high school and went away to college. A quarter of a century after we brought home a newborn, we were unloading dorm supplies for our youngest child. It was a tough marathon, at times demanding more than I thought I had to offer. If you are in that marathon, just take it one day at a time, pace yourself, and cherish the hard assignment, realizing the empty, quiet years lie ahead.
Like running in a marathon, grab refreshment along the way from those who offer it. If you love someone in a marathon assignment, be the one who offers encouragement, strengthening them to continue along their way. Over these past four years, there have been a few dear church friends who would stop me in the hallway and earnestly ask how I was doing. Those minutes of focusing on my well-being did wonders to my capacity to keep going. Each of us is running some type of marathon; and each of us can be the one who holds out the fresh water along the way.
Some of life’s assignments are hard, and some of them last a very long time. In these marathons, it’s important to remember to pace our efforts, not expending more each day than we have available. Instead of looking too far ahead, marathon runners focus on just the next bit of running. No matter the assignment, it is ours to complete, and we have been prepared for such a time as this to fulfill it. Take breaks in a place of refreshment and offer encouragement along the way to others.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, some days my life assignments seem to exceed what I have to complete them. Help me trust that you have equipped me for such a time as this, and the marathons, no matter how long they might seem, are just for a time. Thank You for providing people and places to refresh me, as You also equip me to be a refreshment to others in their marathons. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. I encourage you to meditate on the story of Esther, in the book by that name, particularly the fourth chapter.
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