Morning Devotional 030826 Slow and Steady

Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room

March 8, 2026

Hebrews 12:1-13

1 So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, 2 and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. 3 Think about the one who endured such opposition from sinners so that you won’t be discouraged and you won’t give up. 4 In your struggle against sin, you haven’t resisted yet to the point of shedding blood, 5 and you have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons and daughters: My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by him, 6 because the Lord disciplines whomever he loves, and he punishes every son or daughter whom he accepts. 7 Bear hardship for the sake of discipline. God is treating you like sons and daughters! What child isn’t disciplined by his or her father? 8 But if you don’t experience discipline, which happens to all children, then you are illegitimate and not real sons and daughters. 9 What’s more, we had human parents who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live? 10 Our human parents disciplined us for a little while, as it seemed best to them, but God does it for our benefit so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline is fun while it lasts, but it seems painful at the time. Later, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it. 12 So strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees! 13 Make straight paths for your feet so that if any part is lame, it will be healed rather than injured more seriously.

Good Morning, Blessings to the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us!

When we consider our faith journey, we must never forget that we are not running a sprint, but a marathon. Runners who train for short distances have a different mindset than long-distance runners. In a long race, you must pace yourself, take in nourishment and water along the way, and never give up. 

In my fifties, I began participating in races: 5Ks, 10Ks, and half-marathons. As I have said before, I am not, nor have I ever been, a runner or even classified as an athlete, but I have always had endurance. One thing I learned during this time is that for shorter races, you train for a slightly longer distance than you will compete in, so you don’t run out of steam before the end. You want to finish strongly, not gasping for breath. 

In my training plan for the half marathons, the guide had us alternate between shorter and longer sessions and gradually work up to ten-mile training “runs” (mostly walks, in my case). The schedule never includes a full 13.1-mile practice. The planner said that if you could complete ten miles comfortably, your momentum would carry you to the end, something about muscle memory. I realized around the 10-mile mark of my first long race that I believed I could finish, and that was essential to completing it. 

The point is that our faith journey resembles marathon training. We have hard days and easy days that seem to alternate without warning. Occasionally, we have longer stretches of good times that prepare us for the longer stretches filled with challenges. 

We are building up endurance so that we can finish our race to eternal life. We must never quit, even when our pace slows to a crawl; we keep moving forward. Slow and steady wins the race of life. 

God of Wisdom, you bless us abundantly! Endurance takes time to develop. Thank you for waiting while we catch up. We love you. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Thought for the day: Don’t quit! God is with us!

Keep moving forward! Pastor Liz