Hump Day

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.– Colossians 3:2 NIV

Sometimes January feels like it will never end.

Before there were solar panels, wind turbines, and automatic washers and dryers, there were clotheslines. Our mom would hang out the laundry to dry by sun and wind. And when her boys were especially mischievous, she’d tell us to go outside and “blow on the clothes.”

One of our key responsibilities was inserting the clothes pole—strategically placed in the middle of the line—to keep the clean laundry from sagging into the dirt. That pole didn’t remove the weight of the wet clothes; it lifted them just enough to keep them clean and moving toward home.

That’s what the Running the Play blog is meant to be.

We publish on Wednesdays on purpose—as a midweek reset, a way to lift our hearts and minds back toward the things that matter most. It’s hump day for the soul. Like that clothes pole, these posts aim to elevate the spirit and help us finish the week strong.

So much of life requires mental toughness, and following Jesus is not a hall pass to an easy life. In many ways, it gets harder. The apostle Paul compared the life of faith to running a race (Galatians 2:2; 2 Timothy 4:7).

Marathon runners will tell you the hardest miles aren’t the first ones—or even the last. It’s the middle miles that test you most. The excitement of the start has faded. The finish still feels far away. You’re no longer running on adrenaline—just resolve.

At that point, the race becomes a decision, not a distance.

Runners say this is where it stops being about training and starts being about choosing to keep going. One mile at a time. One step at a time. No heroics—just faithfulness. Nothing is technically wrong… but everything feels wrong. You’re not injured. You’re not lost. You’re just tired. And that’s what makes it dangerous.

The good news is there is an antidote for the midweek—and mid-January—blahs.

It’s a decision.

Like the mentally tough long-distance runner, we choose to keep going—knowing we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and running with perseverance the race marked out for us. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1–2).

That clothes pole didn’t remove the weight of the laundry—it lifted it just enough.
Same with a midweek word.
Same with faith.
Same with endurance.

Let’s keep running the play… one well-placed pole at a time. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

And just in case you were wondering… January ends in three days.

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Finding Our Place in the Story

Where do you currently feel like you’re in the “middle miles” of life—past the excitement, not yet at the finish—and tempted to lose resolve?

What practices help you “lift your eyes” midweek and re-orient your heart toward things above rather than what’s weighing you down?

What might it look like this week to choose faithfulness over heroics—one step, one decision, one mile at a time?