Passing the Baton

We have heard with our ears, O God;

our fathers have told us

what you did in their days,

in days long ago. 

Psalm 44:1

 I love to watch the Olympic relay runners.  One runs for awhile and then passes the baton (stick) to the next runner.  The key is to smoothly pass the stick, still running at full speed, and to see the next runner grab the stick at full speed without dropping it.  And so on until the race is finished!

Life for a Christian should be a spiritual relay race.  One of my favorite passages is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9: 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. 

I have a son and 2 daughters.  My prayer is that they will pass the baton to their children, and that their children will pass it to my great grandchildren, who will pass it to theirs.  If the baton is dropped, the next generation may be lost.  The race is not won until we have the prize in our grasp.  We must run--and run--and run--and continue to pass the baton smoothly to the next generation.  I must admit that one of my great fears it that the stick will be dropped.  (You learn too much about me as I write these posts!)

The baton is in our hands.  We cannot pass it on if our first leg of the race in incomplete.  Our first responsibility is to love God ourselves with the fervor it takes to run the race.  Then and only then may we pass the baton to the next runner.

Please pray for me that I will continue to run and with me that the next generation will recognize the importance of running the race and passing the baton.

Weak-kneed but running,
Gloria