Relentless Love

I have less than 3 weeks to finish this Cross Country season that was ordained with the theme of ‘Relentless.’ So I’m sitting here listening to one of my favorite worship songs (‘You Won’t Relent’ by Misty Edwards) and reflecting on God’s relentless pursuit of his children.  The song starts out with the lyrics ‘You won’t relent until you have it all; my heart is yours.’  I had a sneaky suspicion God was going to teach me a lot about his relentlessness this season.  And He has, as He always loves to teach me through my greatest passions. 

In the beginning I told the runners about the theme and they have been all about it (you can read about that here).  In fact, they made it easy for me to be a relentless coach for a while. Because no matter what I threw at them, it was disdainfully met with the phrase: ‘That’s it?!’  So I just kept getting harder, just kept piling on more miles…. And they kept taking it.  You would think this would be a coach’s dream! And it was for a long time. But then it got exhausting and it got hard. For the first time in my life I didn’t look forward to writing a practice. I was researching countless exercises, training plans, and struggling with my own intuition, all in a pursuit to give each new relentless workout.  I’ve had to balance brutality with fears of injury; I’ve had to be mean when I didn’t want to be; and I’ve had to deal with something that feels like guilt over the sacrifices I’ve made them give and the pain I’ve had to watch them endure.  And yet all the while, I never considered relenting.  Which drove me to God’s lesson, this question: Why?  Why not be content; why keep pushing, why cause pain, why all the extra planning and longer practices, why risk making the runners hate the sport. And I only have one answer to the why. Love.

Throughout this season many things have battled for my runners attentions.  I have had to fight for a place of high priority.  I’ve taken on such idols as girlfriends, travel soccer, and sleep, always requiring the runners to prioritize their training. And in some of those battles neither I nor the runner escaped without some wounds. So why did I keep battling? Why keep fighting (it’s just a sport afterall), the only answer that makes sense is Love, jealous love.  I have gained a small bit of understanding of what God feels like when we choose things other than Him to occupy our time and energy.

Love is why I’m unrelenting. I love my 12 runners, my disciples. I want only the best for them. I want to see them become what they are capable of. I want them to discover the greatness that lies in each of them, greatness I see that they don’t yet.  And I am willing to put them through the fire to see that come about.  And so I have also gained a microbit of understanding into God’s immense love for me.  How he relentlessly pursues me, relentlessly trains me; and that he hurts when I hurt but sends me into battle anyway to produce the growth He wants to see, growth that turns me into who He created me to be.

The next part of the ‘You Won’t Relent’ song is from Song of Solomon:

“For there is Love that is as strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave; many waters cannot quench this Love.”

His love is a Relentless Pursuit. And He demands it all.