A few weeks ago, Angela needed to take Addie to the doctor, so she dropped Zeke off at work with me. It was a Friday, so our after school kids would be playing games in the gym and he could just join in with them. Zeke would have fun and it would make the trip to the doctor with a sick kid easier on Angela. Zeke was running laps around the gym playing with some of the after school kids. Multiple kids came up to me and said, “He just doesn’t stop. He has sooooo much energy.” Every once in a while Zeke would take a break to get a sip of water and then was back up running around the gym. This lasted for about an hour and a half. Even the adults were commenting on how nice it would be to have his energy.
Wishing you had more energy is something you hear a lot as you get older (not saying I’m old haha). This year, I organized an all-night lock-in with our fifth grade after school students and so many people thought I was crazy when I told them about it. “My days of staying up all night are long behind me,” was a pretty common response I got. While I certainly understand, I still genuinely enjoy doing things like lock-ins. Unfortunately, most of my recent all-nighters have been caused by sick kids and those are nowhere near as fun.
Watching Zeke that day and hearing the comments made me think of my life. It made me think of how that has happened spiritually to me. When I first accepted Jesus, there was a lot more excitement. I was excited to tell people about Him. I was excited to read the Bible and pray. I was excited about the life I had in Him. But over the years, it has become familiar and routine. I find myself like the people saying, “I wish I still had that kind of energy.”
Years ago, someone gave me a word to “not lose my zeal for life.” It is something I have to constantly come back to. Unfortunately there are too many times I find myself fainting spiritually. It can be so easy to get caught up in adulting. It can be easy to say I’m too old for those things and they are for the young kids with energy to do. But the truth is, that passion should never faint. Isaiah 40:31 say, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
The word “wait” in this verse doesn’t mean to just sit around. It means to wait with anticipating or to look eagerly for. When we look eagerly for God, He will renew us. Those same passions I once had are not gone just because I’m older. They are gone because I don’t wait as eagerly as I once did. When I return to that, those passions quickly return. I find the energy I once had. My strength is renewed. I become like Zeke and can run and never get tired.
until next time…