Pace Setters

Ethiopian runner Genzebe Dibaba set a new world record recently. You can--and should--watch it here. Dibaba covered 1500 meters (about 100 meters short of a mile) in just over 3 minutes and 50 seconds. What a girl! 

But as you watch the race unfold, you can't help but notice another woman, Chanelle Price, who paced her through 800 meters. Price is a world-class runner, as well. She has run faster than 2 minutes for the 800 on the track on her own. With Price as the pace setter, Dibaba was able to follow her lead more than half the race without thinking about pace or splits. Her job done, Price dropped out at 800, with Dibaba finishing the race alone. Victoriously.

Pace setters, sometimes called rabbits, are used often in elite track meets to help one or more athletes come through a certain point at a pre-appointed time. Pace setters sometimes stay in the race and finish, but primarily they're there to give the leaders a strong start. The pace setters keep racers from starting out so fast they don't finish well. The pace setters do the thinking for the racers. The pace setters are well-prepared and know exactly how to run the splits they're given.

Many successful races at the elite level use pace setters.

Few of us Prize Runners have ever been called "elite." Few (and maybe none) of us have ever had a pace setter in a race. But we all need one in this spiritual race known as "life."

In Titus 2, Paul is explaining the idea of a spiritual pace setter, specifically for women. He says, "...teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God," (Titus 2:3-5, NIV).

You need a pace setter. So do I.

I remember well the pace setters I had when I had my first child. I thought I was ready; I had read multiple books and had great websites bookmarked for everything I might encounter. (Or so I thought.) I was ready. Hahahahaha.

Luckily, I had about 10 friends who had lived through motherhood and would walk with me through those early days. I would send frantic emails at midnight, desperately asking them all, "Why won't he sleep? Why won't he eat? What am I doing wrong? When will this get better?" My friends, my pace setters, were loving and gracious and kind, running with me through the first few laps of motherhood. Thinking for me. Guiding me. And I was comforted, knowing they had been there are could get me through.

Motherhood isn't the only area I need pace setters. I have women who help me through all areas of life: cooking, being a godly wife, sanity in the face of busyness, ministry, hospitality, and much more. Sometimes God just drops a loving, wonderful friend or family member into my life who has been that pace setter as long as I can remember. And sometimes He has let me pursue someone for a particular purpose so that I can learn from her in her area of expertise.

On the other hand, I'm also called to be a pace setter. So are you.

Regardless of our age, we've all been through something that enables us to be a pacesetter for someone else. Abuse. Addiction. Anxiety. We've got talents and skills and a knack for something that can bless another woman seeking to honor God. We didn't get to the end of a season so that we could cross the finish line and wander off into the stands. Our struggles--and victories--have enabled us to be a pace setter, confident in helping another runner make it around the track a few times.

You're an "older."
And you're also a "younger."

You need help. You can give help.

Be a pace setter. 
Get a pace setter. (Or twenty, like me.)

Let's run this race together, to God's glory!

Victoriously.