Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray gets stuck in the same day, living it over and over. He runs through a gamut of emotions tied to living one day a bunch of times. At first he’s freaked out. Then annoyed. He feels invincible because he knows he’ll get to do it all again tomorrow. There’s anger. There’s hopelessness. There’s hope as he feels he can change the outcome of things. There’s honesty as he knows that the day will end and the person won’t remember what he even said the next day.
Sometimes, I feel like that. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut, stuck living out my routine. Stuck in the same day, living the same moments, hearing the same things, doing the same motions to get from the time I wake up in the morning until I close my eyes at night. And I feel the same emotions that Mr. Murray went through. Freaked out. Annoyed. Invincible. Anger. Hopelessness. Hope. Honesty. And many more emotions.
I became open-eyed aware of this as I completed a walk on my treadmill the other day. I wasn’t completing my Couch to 5K app. I was just walking. And as I was walking my eyes fixed on the belt. My ears honed in on the rhythm of my feet. The belt was going round and round. Every once in a while the logo on the belt would zoom past in a flash, but other than that it was this black belt spinning round and round. I was tired. So very tired. And I was sweaty and hot and achy and just watching the belt go round and round. Never getting anywhere. Never making progress. Never seeing any sights or changing the scenery. My heart sank in sadness and despair and hopelessness.
I was only like twelve days into 2018. I have committed to running and walking 2,018 miles in 2018. I was on day twelve and I was already finding myself wanting to quit. Wanting to be done. What purpose for all of this walking and running and exercise. I had already put in nearly seventy miles. Five and a half miles per day at least. But for what? Why? What was the point?
And then I started thinking about life in general. Just as the belt beneath my feet simply went round and round, sometimes I feel like life is the same way. The same things happen over and over. Never getting anywhere. The belt keeps going around and you find yourself rehashing the same events day after day. The cycle of grief. The sadness. The heartache. The anger. The hopelessness. Keep walking one step at a time. Keep praying. Keep healing. Keep mourning. But for what? Why? What is the point?
I finished my walk and pulled the cord to stop the treadmill. I turned to walk off the back and that’s when I noticed a pile of dirt under the treadmill on the carpet. While I was walking my shoes were leaving behind residue from being worn outside. There was dirt and grass in a neat pile at the back of the treadmill. While I was walking this monotonous journey, my shoes were being slowly cleaned of the yuck. The belt was catching all of the dirt and grime and yuck and carrying it off the treadmill into a neat pile, ready to be vacuumed away. And then I smiled as Father God connected it all for me.
Life does get hard. You get sweaty and tired and hot and achy. You grieve and mourn. You have happy moments. You’re filled with hopelessness and then hope. It gets hard. It gets monotonous. But, through every one of those moments, God is filtering the yuck out. Every low of grief that you hit, God takes a part of that and filters it off. Every flashback you experience, God is there to vacuum up the broken pieces of your soul. Every time you doubt your footing or you are angry with your circumstances or you wonder if you’re going to make it to the next morning, God is sloughing off the yuck, and replacing it with good. He is cleaning up your life, filtering off the dirt and grime, and making you white as snow.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He gave His Son to cleanse and purify our souls. To make the monotonous light up in amazing wonder. To bring joy and peace to our hearts. To help us when we are covered with yuck and dirt and sin and to wash us clean. To set us on the right path when we find ourselves drifting to the side. To shake the yuck off, pile it behind us, and help us continue to put one foot in front of the other.
Life is going to be hard. It’s going to be messy. It’s going to leave us hitting our knees and begging for the answer to “WHY?” But quietly behind us, behind the scenes of the slow and steady of our life, God is keeping our path going round and round, moving forward in faith and hope and peace and love. Leaving us marching towards becoming stronger everyday. Shedding the yuck and the anger and the hopelessness and donning pure white robes and heading toward His glory.
Round and round. Be so very thankful that your treadmill keeps moving forward. Towards Him. Towards healing. Towards peace. Towards heaven and eternity with Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment