Comfortabiltiy

Yesterday was April fool’s day and I had nothing planned. I didn’t fake a debilitating disease that has left only 6 months for me to live or tell everyone I was moving to Missouri, not that I have ever done either (elementary school was fun). In fact, I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t even have known it was April fools day had it not been for my insane schedule which requires I know the current date. I got to wondering how this day passed without me taking advantage of it.
It is most certainly not because I have grown out of it, I shudder at the thought of such maturity to have crept upon me as to not find amusement in a prank. It was simply that I was so distracted I didn’t care. How did I get here? So busy doing what God wanted me to do that I didn’t pay attention when He moved on. I got comfortable.
As a long distance runner, I have trained myself to be able to go for miles and call it comfortable, not comfortable as in laying bed asleep but as in I could keep that pace for a long time without much strain. This is great when doing a nice long run through a park on my time but is not when you’re are in a race and your team needs you. Getting comfortable means sacrificing time and that means sacrificing points. I have realized that in a race when the thought crosses my mind that I could keep the current pace for awhile, it’s time for me to pick it up and go if I want any improvement. Apparently I hadn’t realized this is more applicable in life than in a track race.
God had me going at a pretty decent pace, at first I thought there was no way I could keep it up but of course God gave me the strength. Then I got comfortable. I assumed that I was still following God’s will and forgot all about race strategy. The way you run the first lap is never the way you run the last lap. Whether in life or in running, a race ran comfortably finishes disappointingly. God wants us to hit our personal record time.
Looking over my life I have found that I seem to go in circles with my relationship with God. The period of zeal turns to a period of apathy. I just figured out that these periods of apathy come when God, instead of holding our hand and walking with us, takes a step forward in hopes that we would follow. When we don’t pay enough attention to realize we are no longer walking with God but behind Him, we don’t follow. We get caught in our rut of doing what we were told to do before we were given additional instructions. We get comfortable.
God I want to pick up the pace. Take me where you need me and forgive this April Fool for getting so busy I forgot to report back to the Coach.