expectantly || a poem

expectantly || a poem

funnily, last year i learned to love running:

beginning with muscles stretching, heart pounding in anticipation,

then taking off with adrenaline speed

to settle into rhythmic breathing + focused motion.

yet a race is a battling fight

for weakness pulls at me to slow,

+ i hear lies—like every passing tree—

pulsing in my gasping breaths + flushed face;

i resist with feet planting firmly + eyes set:

every pain pushes me closer to the Prize

so i fight on.

winter settles to ice the air in frost,

+ i fight daily,

yet only grow weaker.

i learn in the everyday

strength isn't in pushing harder, like a race,

it's in the Strength Giver.

when i spring up a hill, i whisper:

this is what He trained me for

yet when the run is over, i maybe train hardest

by waiting on the Lord, eyes set

on Him, my utter Prize,

waiting for His springtime.

He fights as i follow in submission.

Jesus is the body; i am the feet simply obeying,

+ He never grows weary or slumbers,

so with His Spirit in me, why should i walk in defeat?

is there victory in g r a c e ?

i run hard in races + will to be the feet of Jesus in today,

to achieve the ultimate Prize.

not because of my strength

(which, if i boasted in, would fall flat in the first competition)

but because of His,

                                expectantly.

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

For though (Jesus) was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, 13:4

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength...
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-29, 31 

~♥~