The Unfinished Mile!

A couple of weeks ago I took an afternoon run that began as a 5 mile run but ended up at 7 miles. In truth, when I returned to my house I looked at my GPS watch and saw that I had clocked 6.9 miles. So as most runners can understand, I ran up the block .05 miles and then back to make it an even 7 miles. Blame it on a bit of OCD or pride or whatever you like, but I just couldn’t end my run with an unfinished mile. 

I posted my run that day to a running group I belong to on Facebook (for runners age 60+) noting that I had to put in the extra .1 mile to make it a complete 7 miles and I received over 450 reactions and more than 150 comments. All but one person said they would have done the same. I guess I’m in pretty good company when it comes to not wanting to walk away from an unfinished mile—at least among runners! (Kim still can’t understand why I couldn’t leave it at 6.9 miles!) 

It makes me wonder, however, how many “unfinished miles” we all live with; how many “unfinished miles” I may have in my life—i.e., things we set out to accomplish but have left somewhat incomplete.  It could be a degree that was never completed, a language that was never mastered, a relationship that was left unnurtured. It might be the race we never ran or the phone call we never made; the appreciation we failed to show or the reconciliation that never took place.  Whatever the case, if we are honest, we can all find an “unfinished mile” here or there within our lives. And the worst part of it is, the regret to which an unfinished mile leads—that sense of “If only I had…..” 

At one point, Jesus told a parable about two sons who were given a task to accomplish by their father (see Matthew 21). One of them intended to accomplish the task but did not. The other had no intention of obeying his father’s wishes, but changed his mind and completed the assignment. The implication of Jesus’ story is that good intentions are not enough; one must actually follow through, doing what God has called us to do. We might say, his was a call to finish the mile! 

In his letter to the church in Colosse, the Apostle Paul thought of someone who needed a bit of encouragement when it came to finishing what God had given him to do. He wrote, “Tell Archippus: ‘See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.’” (Colossians 4:17).  I guess Paul caught on to the fact that Archippus was about to leave something unfinished within his life. 

When it comes to our spiritual lives, our walk with God, and the tasks that he gives to us to accomplish through our lives, God forbid that any of us should get to the end of our lives and find that we ran 6.9 miles, only to stop there. How sad it would be for us to look back over our lives and find that we had failed to finish the journey, having left incomplete what God had asked us to accomplish with our lives. 

Instead, may we be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”  (1 Timothy 4:7-8) 

Have a great day! 

- Pastor Tim Harris