Deep thoughts: Don’t just run!
I have seen something under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all
Ecc 9:11
DO NOT JOIN THE MAJORITY! The warning bells were ringing loudly in my head as I graduated successfully from school. Yet I still found myself thinking and doing exactly the same thing every young graduate would do until I took a pause on the 12th of October, 2013 and reflected.
I have to say, even though I am not as wise as Solomon, with what is written below, I imagine the way I feel is how Solomon feels after saying a proverb.😁
I have seen something else under the sun…
When we are yet born, we can’t wait to be born and when we are but babes, we can’t wait to walk, talk and jump around. And when we can, we can’t wait to go to school and have fun with the other kids. When we are in pre-school, we can’t wait to start primary then secondary school.
In Junior Secondary School there is always that burning impatience that overrides every thought but that of becoming a senior and when we are, we can’t wait to finish and decide the next step for our lives. Well, some may decide to start work or go to university which when we get there, every day reminds us that we can’t wait to enter into the world and start living. After that, one can’t really wait to fulfill one’s dream; that is if all the cards are played right and then we run impatient, passing through relationships, settling down, having kids, retirement, till we can’t wait to die and leave Earth, after all, there is nothing more to chase after since we have sort of reached the finish line of that imaginary race we set for ourselves.
Some of us just keep running till we drop while some may just stop; passed out waiting for the final verdict of either victory or defeat.
This race seems like that of an athlete who runs solely for reaching the end of the finish line in record time. I realized that while running, he focuses only on the victory ahead of being the first and misses everything else that is happening all around. The journey of life described above is such a race where the finish line holds no trophy for the only trophy one can acquire in the journey of life is the experiences gotten from everything around throughout the whole trip.
I don’t want to live life like an athlete; I want to be an explorer savouring every bit of experience that is present, taking my time to taste, smell, feel, hear and see all that is; living my life per phase. That way I chose not after nothing of this earth for the race I need to run is that within; which is the race to God.
So pause and reflect! Then decide if you want to just run like others running or if you want to do it differently just as I decided to do and have started doing. If you have picked the later, join me next week on the next step I took.