Wednesday, December 12, 2018

#Rough Road to Redemption: AdventWord Day 11

ROUGH
These shoes have seen better days. They have carried me through numerous night runs, morning trainings, 5k races, trail courses, up and down hills, and the completion of my first half-marathon. Nearly 1,000 miles over the last year and now they are done. While I have learned to love running, the sport becoming a great outlet of self-care, there are plenty of occasions where I have to work up extra motivation to walk out my front door. There are more than enough rough routes when my legs do not cooperate and I am tempted to bail altogether- not sure if I can make it up that incline or finish the extra mile. Still, I offer whatever I have and press on to the end. 
We are fools if we believe the road to Bethelehem was easy. The coming of Christ was surrounded by conflict and confrontation, fear and uncertainty, oppression and horror, mystery and absurdity. If we pay attention, we discover many within the drama were tempted to quit altogether, to bail on the improbable and impossible. Yet, through their faithful endurance and trust in God’s promise to put the world to rights in this One named Immanuel, they encountered new beginnings. Yes, their road to redemption was rough, ours will likely be as well, but they carried on, aware God was with them every leg of the journey. The same holds true for us. So lace up and offer whatever you have to this movement of love, justice, and promised renewal of all creation.