Friday, March 7, 2025
Morning Runs
Scripture: Hebrews 12:1
I’m an early riser. Some of my best mornings are when I’m able to take a run in the predawn light of a new day. No matter the season, our neighborhood offers much to see and consider as the sun peaks through trees and crests over rooftops.
During Lent, the landscape is in the beginning of a fading winter and the arrival of spring. There is a beauty in the starkness of my surroundings before spring brings on its green paint. In the light of that starkness, my eyes see my neighborhood with a different clarity.
Those runs offer me solitude, time to reflect, and ponder. Some mornings, a feeling of “losing heart” is running with me. Yet, in those moments, I’m reminded of the “unseen.” I wonder how the good Lord, a friend, or stranger might be conspiring to bring relief to my slipping heart.
Lent can be a tough run. We know its road—hills, curves, straightaways, and blind spots.
Yet, at the end of Lent, just like the end of a morning run, I feel mentally and physically resurrected by its transforming story.
For me that resurrection and transformation are grounded in the last verse of Hebrews 12:1: “and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
Society of St. Andrew
Prayer: Father of us all, during Lent help us to persevere and not lose heart. Amen
Bill Pike
Richmond, Virginia
Author’s note: I’m always humbled when a piece I have submitted to a publication is accepted. The Society of St. Andrew does good work in providing food to people. Have a quiet day, be safe, Bill Pike
might be baloney 