55,334 steps.
That's the number of strides it takes for a runner to
complete a marathon, 26.2 miles from beginning to end, to compete in and then complete,
this most ancient of athletic competitions. So in our own Boston Marathon, for
example, that's all the way from the postcard perfect town green of suburban Hopkinton
to the finish line under the shadow of the skyscraping Prudential
Center in downtown Boston. A very long way to propel one's self
using only your body. No Uber. No commuter train. No cruising along the Pike in
your car. Nope. Just your muscles and your breath and your will to finish.
So what's the secret to competing in and completing such a
herculean task? There must be a mysterious shortcut, maybe a hack that makes
marathoning somehow easier, right? I've got friends who run marathons and when
I ask them just how they do it, how they achieve the seemingly impossible, how
they can actually run such a very long distance, their answer is both obvious
and simple.
They just run.
They lace up their sneakers and begin with one step and then
another step and another and another and another. They have the goal of being a
marathoner and then they take that hope and translate it into action. Into
running: when the weather is perfect and they've got a tailwind that makes them
feel as if they are Mercury, the Greek god of fleet footedness. They also run when it is cold and rainy at 6
am. They run after working a full day, even though all they really want to do
is flop down on the couch with a beer. Instead, they get up and they go out and
they run.
They just run.
Told you the answer was a no brainer, so clear and yet so
hard sometimes. To dream big dreams for ourselves in this life but then to also
have the discipline and the courage to make them come true. To imagine a
glorious victory but then do the hard work of getting to that finish line. In
Thoreau's words, to build castles in the air and then also have the wisdom to
build foundations under them.
Ask most humans if they've got some dream they've always
wanted to achieve and guaranteed they will have at least one great hope. One achievement they've always fantasized
about realizing. To run a marathon. Write a book. Sing a solo on stage. Start a
business. Stand for election to public office.
Build a house.
What's your dream?
To dream big is to be human. To dream big is to listen to
the divine voice within that dares us to become and not just to be. In this
season of graduations, speakers stand before wide eyed and huge hearted
graduates and seek to inspire those young people to soar, to take that degree
and become who they are called to become in the world. Who their Creator made
them to be.
AMEN!
That's all good. Yet the best of intentions, even the
greatest idea of all time: it cannot, it will not ever come true unless we as the
dreamer finally make the commitment and begin the race. Sit down before the
computer with its blank screen and then type the very first word. Arise at 5 am to get into the office early
before most folks have had their first cup of coffee. Pull on well worn running
shoes and put one foot in front of the other and begin at mile marker one.
In the race called human life, we can all dream. That's a
great beginning. But to finish? We must get to work. We must leave the easy
life of day dreaming and then do the actual work of life building. We must run.
Ready? Set? GO!
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