forward progress

i’m a sucker for a good metaphor. a good metaphor can really get the brain juices flowing. when things really get crazy, i am not above metaphor stacking - yes, i know, gasp.

so, with that in mind, my latest thought experiment - what if journeying with jesus looks like a fly in a school bus sometimes?

but to get there, i have to start us where i most often do...trail running...

i’ve written previously about the idea that running the trails and ascending the mountains of life works best with jesus as my pacer. he goes ahead, he sets the pace, he blazes the trail, he knows where we’re going...my posture is just one foot in front of the other, my objective is simply to stay close, trust the pace, and participate in the path.

in addition, i would add that jesus is the pursuit. he hedges me in - behind and before. put it simply - he’s got my back and is relentlessly chasing me.

the idea that i have a pacer and a pursuit is both comforting and motivating. i have the drive to keep going but the protection to not outrun my abilities. here in the in-between is my portion, my perspective. there is a pace designed for right-now me, on this right-now trail, according to my right-now strength and equipping.
and i have goodness always chasing close behind.

ahead, he’s my pace. behind, he’s my pursuit. now, he’s my portion.
the invitation is to receive my portion, not chase others’ peaks.
give me this day my daily perspective.

trust the proximity.

so remind me how we got to the fly on the bus again?

well i think the trail running metaphor falls apart a bit when i think of the grit, grime, and grunt of long mountain ultra efforts - yes, seasons of life feel like that. BUT ALSO, that doesn't sound like an easy yoke or light burden. there’s some weird energy economy in the kingdom of god where i don’t actually carry all the effort.

so enter the fly on the bus. we all instinctually attribute some physics phenomenon to the awareness that a fly buzzing around a bus on a highway is not in fact flying 70 miles an hour to avoid crashing into the back window. the bus and the driver are doing the work of the forward progress. and the fly has all the energy to sporadically irritate everyone on board in the meantime.

i imagine some seasons of journeying with jesus are a bit more like that than grinding out a few more switchbacks on a mountain. buzzing about, i think that i’m doing all this “stuff”, making all this progress, and moving so “fast” - when i’m just redundantly circling the same small space and burning all my matches. the bigger picture is outside of what i’m aware of, the forward progress far bigger than i can accomplish on my own, and the most efficient way to ride the journey might just be to land on the dashboard and take it in with the driver at the wheel. i can trust i’ll get where i’m supposed to go. forward progress happens - and not accredited to my own sweat or my own wisdom. my proportional effort is actually fractional. and the gift is the “abundantly more”.

that’s how i feel like a fly on bus sometimes.

the invitation is still applicable: trust the proximity.

follow the pace. receive the pursuit. enjoy my portion.

relentless forward progress.