How to run up a hill
I heard an interview on the radio a while ago. They were interviewing someone who regularly does long distance running. And of course, long distance running is not done on uniformly level terrain – you have to run winding paths, and of course run up and down hills.
So how do you run up a hill? The person being intereviewed said that there’s actually a trick to doing that…
A runner approaching a hill will have been running at a consistent pace, and covering a lot of ground with a long stride – since he’s running on flat ground. But when an inexperienced runner begins running up a hill, they try to cover the same amount of ground with each stride, but do it by slowing their pace. This is the wrong thing to do - breaking pace leads to the runner getting tired quicker!
In contrast, experienced runners will actually shorten their stride – they will cover less ground with each step – but most importantly, they will maintain the same pace going up the hill. Continuing this rhythm is the trick to long distance running – and particularly so when climbing a hill.
The same thing applies on the way down a hill. Inexperienced runners will again slow their pace as they take giant leaps down a hill – but experienced runners will adjust their stride so they can maintain the same pace.
Now this is interesting if you’re doing the City to Surf. But I think that this also gives us clues on how to last long term in ministry…
There are some months in the ministry year that will hit us harder than other months. These tend to be towards the end of the ministry year, when people become tired and ministry is no longer fresh and exciting. The normal tendency is to cut back on our disciplines – stop turning up to ministry meetings, stop going to our Bible study group, cut down on prayer and Bible reading – so as to keep on doing ministry.
However, what’s important is actually to keep the regularity of those things, especially when you’re climbing the hill. To keep on going to ministry meetings, to keep on turning up to your Bible study group, to do your QT’s – in short, you maintain your ‘pace’. Instead, you adjust your expectations of how much ministry you can cover during this difficult period – your shorten your ‘stride’. The regularity of your disciplines will keep you sane – and so too will cutting back your expectations of yourself.
The other danger is when you’re going down a hill. In ministry terms, this is when ministry is very fruitful, and you are tempted to do lots of it. In such cases, you need to be careful of doing so much that you have to cut back on your disciplines! Again, you adjust your ‘stride’ to take advantage of the new situation – but you maintain the regularity of your disciplines.
That’s how you run up a hill – and that’s how you last long term in ministry.
[ PS: I'm one of those people who listens to ABC News Radio (630 AM)... ]
Categories: Culture watch
