Life's Little Parables

Since Thanksgiving is approaching, I felt like sharing this one. I hope you enjoy!

My father started running competitively at the age of 65. (Yes, I find that utterly amazing myself!) My family had the opportunity to watch one of his races several month ago, when he was 67. It was a 10-mile race and there were 125 racers. We watched the racers from a water station at the 6-mile marker. It was fun to see the racers come around the bend, grab their water from a volunteer, and zoom past us. As my dad came through, my kids and I cheered him on. He was so happy to see us there! I noticed that my dad thanked the people who gave him water. I realized very few racers had done that, in fact, I totaled up how many racers thanked the volunteers giving them life-sustaining water. The total count…four out of 125 racers. I noted this to my mom and she said, “Oh, most racers are running too hard to say thank you”.

That statement got me thinking, “how many times in my life do I start running too hard to thank God for the many life-sustaining blessings?” It’s so important to continually notice what blessings the Lord has given to me. In Luke 17 we read that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he came on 10 lepers. They stirred his heart with their cries of, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” He told them each to go to the priest because they were healed. Only one turned to give thanks to Jesus and to glorify God. Jesus sadly said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger….Arise, go they way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” He gave them the precious gift of health, and they didn’t even turn to Him with a small amount of gratitude. I don’t know what their circumstances were. I imagine they had families they ran back to as fast as they could, which wasn’t a bad desire, but they forgot, in their haste, to give thanks to their Lord. I’m trying to be mindful as I run through this race of life that I take the time to thank God along the way, for without Him, this life would be like an unsharpened pencil--pointless.