Pressing On

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 3:14

When I was seventeen I knew a dear, highly revered saint named Mother Corning, a prayer warrior and pillar of our church.She was frail and mighty all at once, well into her eighties, having served the Lord the better part of her life, and it showed. Good grief, just a quick “hello” from the lady left you refreshed. She was a woman of prayerful determination, and there was an essence about her which never failed to revive me. I’d often greet her with a kiss and ask how she’s doing, already knowing the answer I’d get:

“Pressing on!”, she’d grin, clutching my arm with a twinkle in her eye that was downright girlish and holy, a combination only Mother Corning could pull off.

Interesting phrase, “pressing on.” Paul used it when describing his approach to life as a race, the Greek word for “pressing” describing the swiftness of a runner heading towards his goal. That was written by a prisoner who still ran. And it has me thinking today about how I should answer that cliché question, “How ya doing?”

Because now, more than ever, I think Mother Corning had it right, in that she drew joy from what mattered. Now, if I’m asked “How ya doing?” I can’t with any integrity say things are great. They’re not bad, not at all, but I’m forever scrambling and never arriving. So if the quality of my life is  judged by whether or not the items on my To Do list are getting crossed off, then I’m toast. I’m behind on everything, and every day I feel the weight of things undone that I swore would be completed by days end, only to be shifted to the “when I get to it” column.

But on the other hand, this is a marathon, not a sprint. So if I’m pressing on, I can celebrate that rather than in the finish line, because the finish line, though closer than ever I suppose, seems elusive.

I mean honestly, how do you judge whether you’ve done all you could? When do you ever say, “I’m current; all the i’s are dotted; everything’s in place as it should be?” I can’t remember when I last said or even thought anything along those lines. Yet you keep going, jogging, pressing. And if by days end you can say you’ve faithfully continued and made some progress, however little, then perhaps by making peace with progress rather than perfection you tap into Mother Corning’s secret: It’s in the faithful running, not the completion. That’s where the joy lies.

Could it be today that God is more interested in our obedience than our output? He owns time, He distributes to all His servants a fair portion of responsibility, and He’s no tyrant. He knows very well how few hours there are in a day, and exacts from us no more than what He knows to be reasonable. So God grant us all the confidence and deep rooted joy Mother Corning exuded when she was asked How Are You?

She never said “perfect”, “no problems” or “wonderful.” No, “pressing on” was her motto. And we could do a lot worse than to adopt it for our own.