the ONLY THING we need

I have gotten to where I basically run every day. Some days I am really excited about getting to run, other days its work; yet I know that when I get done I will feel so good, so I try to push through. There are also some days when I think I'm excited about running but it’s hard for me to stay focused long enough to get done what I want (or need to) get done. (Especially if I'm training for a distanced run). See most the time I run on a treadmill, in a house (that's the workout gym in the boonies) with no tv, I stare at a wall. Thank goodness for my ipod- I on most days get lost in song or thought and the time has passed before I even know it. I've had days that I easily spent 2 hours on the treadmill without even coming close to feeling like 2 hours were gone. Yet still, there are days when I can barely last 20 minutes.. I get bored.. I don't feel like running, quite frankly I'd rather be somewhere else, doing something else.




Yesterday, I had a really good run and some really good thoughts in the process. Because the run was good, it was easy, freeing, etc I was in no hurry to get off the treadmill. I only ran 5 miles, but I could have easily stayed on there for hours and loved every minute of it. This contentment made me stop and think about the other runs (like the ones listed above) which were so hard, when I couldn't help but be ready to get off the treadmill- and let’s be honest sometimes in those moments I've bowed out WAY before reaching my goal. After getting off the treadmill I often wish I'd stuck it out. Fighting boredom would be more worthwhile to me than the feeling of not doing what I set out to accomplish in the first place..



This made me start thinking about life. How often do we get in a place and when it’s not exactly what we thought it would be we want to hurry on to the next thing? I remember growing up and hearing my Mom talk to kids about growing up and how often we go from elementary school thinking life was going to be great in Junior High, or even High School. I'm sure there is some thinking that ah, I just can't wait to be on my own, independent, or life will be perfect when I get married, then the next think you know you are thinking you need kids to make things better. Or even, you think my career will be absolutely perfect if I could just get to this point, or if I'd win this price. Some might even say, Lord- I will not ask for another thing if I could just get to this point and Lord you will get the glory! Granted, all these things are wonderful. Marriage and children are definite desires of my heart- but they will never make life complete... they are blessings from the Lord, over and above what He has already given us.



John 10:10 says, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, yet I have come to give life, and give it to the full."



When Jesus was at the well in John 4, He talks about being the living water:

”So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”



The Lord, unlike the world, provides us a way to become completely satisfied in Him. The world likes to offer us many things, many pleasures, and in all honesty not all these things are bad. Yet how often do we look to these things to base our feelings, actions, or emotions? At the end of the day, will that provide the consistency we are all looking for, or even seeking in life?



We are told in Hebrews that Jesus is the same, yesterday today and forever. When you look at the Bible from the beginning to end (even on a surface level- side note is that a friend and I were talking about how the more you study the Word, the more you realize you don't know- so I'm not claiming to know it all, just telling you what I've seen.) there is never a flaw, or inconsistency in the Character of Christ. This is completely unbelievable- the Lord will provide, protect, comfort, discipline, redeem, free, satisfy, etc .. Over and over again, that’s what He’s been doing from the beginning of time!



Why then do we constantly get distracted? Lose focus, and forget what we had set out to do? In conversation I had a friend tell me one time, “Andrea- last fall I was completely certain of what I was supposed to do, and was at peace with my decision. Now- I’m not so sure.” All I could really say in that moment… well what has changed? Has your focus changed? Have you let yourself get distracted? I can’t speak into what the Lord is telling you other than to say, seek- pray- search your heart and see if something has come in the way to make your thoughts change. Because I don’t believe the Lord will give us a desire, and a peace that He won’t fulfill.



As we run, we get distracted (like I do so easily on the treadmill). We lose our focus, which also causes us to miss out on what the Lord has for us. Maybe we miss out on growth, maybe we miss on the experience of seeing the Lord move, and even the experience of Him using us for His glory! All these things are challenging yes, and sometimes we want to jump off the treadmill- Especially when we can’t see exactly what the Lord is working on. However, I know for certain He is always working. If you don’t know Him yet.. He wants to do a work within you. He wants to change your world! And if you do know Him, He wants to continue working in you! He wants to work through you, to work in others. We serve an individual God, whose come to save the world... its not about US, its about HIM, and people coming to know HIM.



How often in this world are we waiting for or wanting the next big thing? When in all honesty if you know Jesus, you have the ONLY THING we need. Sure we'll recieve blessings (Ps. 128:5), but He is the ULTIMATE blessing. Don't jump ship in the middle of a great run, because you get distracted by something at the time that seems better... there is no better. There isn't anything that compares! Let the Lord be your focus, your ONLY THING needed. When He is the ONLY THING we need, everything else seems to look completely different. Experience that joy today.. Be blessed!





Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”



Ps. 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”