Every step you take...

"Just one more mile, ouch."
"Come on, one foot in front of the other."
"A little farther."

These phrases glimmered in the painful mask in my mind for several hours yesterday. My first marathon attempt: 26.2 grueling miles in the Los Angeles heatwave winter. All went well until mile six when a twinge reminded me that I had not healed fully yet from plantar fasciitis. Not to be distracted by a small amount of pain, I continued until mile ten where a similar eruption in pain occurred in the right foot. I plowed through 8 more miles until my collapse. I couldn't will the pain to stop. I couldn't control it.

Humanity tries so hard to control everything. We cultivate the land to control our food. We set up hospitals to control sickness. Even time which by its very nature cannot be stopped, we tame it by creating finite measurements for it. We have to be in control. We run marathons on feet that cannot handle the pressure because in our arrogance we must be free from all constraints.

However, it is that same arrogance which keeps us from remembering the poverty of our situation. We cannot make it on our own. We are "earthen vessels." We are "facing the dark walls, never to see beyond our faces" (Plato, The Republic). Something must transcend humanity to heal it. Thus, it is in our poverty, that God is exalted. A good message for the Lenten season.