Loving the plodders

 Loving the plodders - link to podcast

When we meet someone who is hurting or sad, we often do stuff to try make the situation better, by maybe giving advice or financial support, but if we just attempt to fix people and don't genuinely love them, what's the point?

For example, a brilliant heart surgeon may spend hours and charge thousands of dollars repairing a heart only for the patient to continue smoking, overeating and living a sedentary life.  Surely this is very frustrating and disheartening!  Excuse the pun.

I have friends who have had expensive plates made for their missing teeth and they don’t use them.  Friends of mine in addiction have amazing insights and knowledge of their condition, its causes and cures, the myriad of different pharmacology’s and they sometimes know about complex psychological strategies to address the problem, and still they drink or drug to destruction.   

In my experience many of the people I have worked with, sometimes for decades have not found the freedom and healing from the problems they are burdened with that both they and I had hoped for.  However the friendships and unconditional love we have shared over those decades has been powerful, and many are still striving and have not given up.

This sort of love is not conditional on them getting well, its just love – full stop.

This is hard going.  Social workers and most medical professionals are tasked with finding solutions to complex problems and they are funded as long as measurable results are able to be produced.   But even the best practitioners in these areas know in their hearts that fixing a medical or psychological problem is almost a waste of time, unless the person they are assisting is loved and has a sense of value and purpose in their lives. 

So you could pour yourself into a solution for someone in this way and feel useless at the end of the day.

1 Cor 13:3  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

But loving someone who does not change is very difficult and seems to be a waste of energy, unless of course loving the person is actually the end game. 

My mate Andy wanted to help me become a bit fitter and to get into running.  He gave me books to read and shared his stories of how good it felt to be fit himself.  He even purchased some cool running accessories for me like calf compression socks and a bandanna from a big race he had participated in.  He shared dieting and nutrition tips and all sorts of advice about stretching and footwear.  I ignored most of it and hardly ever wore the compression socks.  I did take carb loading very seriously though and was top of the class in eating pasta and potatoes before any big event. 

Sometime around 2012 he started to run with me every week.   I could only run very slow and short distances and ended up injuring myself consistently for the first year.   I was a very poor student, however he persisted and we often met just for coffee when I couldn’t run and then when I could run again he stayed with me at my pace and was always encouraging and supportive. 

In 2014 I ran the 10 kilometer course of the Gold Coast Marathon and in 2015 I ran my first half marathon with Andy by my side.  21 kilometers and as I came to the finish line I cried with joy and was humbled and grateful for the love and support of my friend.  It was a powerful moment for me and I have been consistently running similar distances ever since.  

But here’s the thing.  I am still the slowest runner in any group I run with and am still chugging more calories than I ever burn.  I’m heavier now than I was in 2012.  I never stretch and so remain as flexible as a concrete train sleeper, but I love running because the people I run with love me and support me. 

By almost any running standard I am a slow plodding sort of jogger and my complete lack of discipline when it comes to stretching and weight control has not changed in all the time I have been bouncing along the trails. 

Andy’s words and expertise helped me know about running, but it’s the love and mate ship of running communities that keeps me running!

I’m so glad Andy never set a target for me that I had to achieve, as I am sure I would have failed the test and he would have gone on to train more promising athletes.  But Andy runs with me because he loves me.  And that Changes everything.  My buddies at Helensburgh run with me because they love me and want to be with me.   I am a terrible runner, but I am a loved runner.

In a similar way, the hurting people in our lives and for salvos the people in our programs and who come to us for help, need people to love them along the way no matter what the outcomes of the interventions.

This is the way of Jesus,,, I reckon, and I am so glad church life for me is so focused on this beautiful culture.

 

Bless ya,

Bryce (The Plodder)