“So where are you on the Richter scale, babe? How are you on a scale of 1 to 10?”
Jessica asked me this the other day, and it wasn’t nearly as easy to answer as it might initially sound. I had to answer it on multiple levels.
I had to answer it practically. Practically, some of the details and situations in my life were quite difficult and demanding. If life is a series of peaks and valleys then I think I was scraping the bottom of a valley somewhere. From a practical, factual perspective, I probably logged somewhere between a 2 or a 3.
I also had to answer the question emotionally. Surprisingly, my emotions were significantly higher than my factual reality—probably somewhere around a 6 or a 7. This was likely because my emotions were tied to my third answer.
I also had to answer Jessica’s question positionally. I told her, “My circumstances are a 2.5, my emotions are a 6.5, but my determination is a solid 9. Yes, I’m a little weary, but my posture, my position—my commitment to keep on running—has never been higher.”
The Bible gives us precedent for this kind of thinking. After Gideon and his troops routed the Midianites in Judges 8:4 they were described as “weary yet pursuing” and an interesting thing happened to them while they ran. Divine strength overtook them and helped them finish the chase.
Sometimes life requires us to keep pursuing when we are exhausted too. If you are in a running season, please don’t stop and please don’t despair. God’s grace knows how to find you even when you are sprinting on fumes.