Have you ever heard of the Ultra Marathon? It’s a 544-mile race in Australia – typically 18 hours of running, 6 hours of sleeping – on repeat for 7 days. Typically dominated by fit 20-somethings sponsored by Nike or Adidas, in 1983 a new competitor emerged. Cliff Young, a 61-year-old in his Osh-Gosh overalls and rubber work boots with galoshes – in case it rained – showed up.
Cliff was a potato farmer with 2,000 head of sheep on the side. He would run up and down the hills in his pasture for days and nights at a time, so he figured this race would just be a few more days beyond that.
All the younger folks in the race blazed away from the finish line while Cliff started shuffling. He was left in the dust as he shuffled along. But at night when all the others were laying down to sleep for 6 hours, Cliff kept on shuffling,
All through the black nights, Cliff never stopped. He had not heard about the conventional wisdom of running hard for 18 hours and sleeping 6. The dark never slowed him down because he didn’t know he was supposed to stop, so he just kept on shuffling and gradually overcame the below 30 crowd in their $400 Nikes.
At the end of the race, Cliff Young came in first – a full 9 hours before the second-place runner crossed the finish line. He was handed the prize, $10,000 but said he didn’t know there was a prize. So as each runner after him crossed the line, he handed them some money because “they worked hard too.” Cliff walked away with no money at all because he ran for the pure joy of running.
It’s less about speed and more about endurance.
I wonder if we could live like Cliff Young Shuffled – and I don’t mean shuffling for 6 days without sleep. But perhaps adapting some everyday shuffling, slow but steady – for the pure joy of it.
The same sure and steady rhythms, day in and day out – the making of the bed, followed by the opening of the Word, followed by the journaling of the heart, followed by the moving of the body – just this enduring shuffle of doing the next hard and holy small thing – will win everything in the end. Ann Voskamp
We can always rely on our Friend, the Holy Spirit, for the strength we need to keep on living through the light and the dark, through the gray days and the sunny – to persevere instead of giving up.
On my own, I would have given up years ago. Life is hard and it’s not going to get any easier, but with promises of God,
I will never leave you or forsake you
Lo, I am with you always
I have loved you with an everlasting love
We need not ever give up. If we have a pulse, we have a purpose.
It’s not our strength God’s looking for, but our weakness, as we surrender and trust Him to provide the strength for our struggles which will never end until we take our last breath.
Hold on, press on, surrender your will to His, and shuffle your race well so you will hear those precious words,
Well done, good and faithful servant
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