Baton in Hand

Happy Thursday everyone! My name is Sara and I’m a proud member of Wings of Hope. I must admit that I am not a writer or a blogger. Although many of my friends and family would disagree, I don’t think I express my feelings very well. But I love challenging myself and have asked for the podium on this blog once a week, a very special honor to me. As time goes on, our members will be sharing in their own way what our new organization means to them, what we are all about, what we are up to and how all of you can join our efforts.

Today I’m sharing a part of the “what” Wings of Hope means to me. Like I said above, I’m not a writer, so I borrowed the following from an email I received from Pastor Paul. A very special friend of mine who emails me twice a week, I foresee sharing them with you often.

Sunday, May 8, 2011 w/ Pastor Paul

~Few track and field events are any more exciting than the relay race - four athletes giving their all for their assigned portion of the race, and then successfully passing the baton to the next runner. He runs alone until he comes to where the next runner is waiting. For a few brief steps they run alongside each other until the baton is safely passed, and then drops back, his race completed while the other must continue on. If the baton is not handed off properly within the allowed space or is dropped, the runners are disqualified.

The life of faith is like that. We each have our assigned portion of race to run, cheered on by those before us, and responsible to those awaiting us. The Apostle Paul seemed to love the metaphor of the runner. “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

And parenting is like that also. A mother’s life is not lived for herself alone, but with an eye to the special lives of the children and families who will follow after her. She does not count herself to have succeeded until she has successfully “passed the baton” – until her children, and their children, have prospered.

She will run alongside of them for a season, but her ultimate goal is to convey something of herself to them – her experience, character, convictions, priorities, values, hopes, and faith – knowing they must run further than she can, and she wishes that they may do so with less pain and more pleasure than hers, with fewer struggles and more victories. She is not content with her accomplishments or comfort, until her children have successfully exceeded her.

A mother’s influence is immense, far greater than she may presume during her busy years of mothering, and such influence is not limited to her lifetime. The Godly impact of her life stretches across the lifetimes of those who felt her love, to those who saw her life, and ultimately to those who learned her faith.

The baton had landed in my hand and this is what Wings of Hope is to me. It is my aspiration, desire and my hope to influence, help and spread love to the people of our beautiful little community.

Our prayer for this week is that we will run with courage, confidence and with the heritage that has been offered. Generations, behind and ahead of us, depend on our doing so. ~Amen

Sara Lester
Wings of Hope