Run after you

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life:
To know and follow hard after you

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in your truth
This world is empty pale and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

I've always enjoyed singing "One pure and holy passion." It's a pretty song, and though the words are a little lofty, I think the Lord is worthy of our heart's loftiest desires.

When I'm singing songs like this, I realize that I often attach some sort of mental picture to the words as I sing them. The last line of the song has typically evoked an image of a little girl tagging along at the heels of her father, scampering to and fro in a pretty little dress. I've pictured myself as that little girl, running after my Father.

That pleasant, pastoral scene was shattered in my mind a few days ago. Much to my own surprise, I've taken up running. I've discovered that -- not surprisingly -- running is hard work. It makes my body hurt. It makes my lungs burn. I sweat like I've never sweat before, and thirst like I've been in the desert for days. Everything inside of me tells me to stop running.

Lead me on and I will run after you.

These words get stuck in my head as I run each morning. This isn't a pleasant little Sunday jaunt through the park with dad. This is hard, it's messy, it's painful. Running after the Lord is often the same way. There are times when I don't want to get up in the morning and run, and there are times when I don't want to make the sacrifice of running after Him. There are times when Home seems ridiculously far away. So I ask myself, with every run, every panting breath, every aching knee, am I willing to do this for the Lord?

I know He would do it for me.

Lead me on and I will run after you.