A colleague and I had sort of a running joke about Sisyphus.
If you don’t know his plight, he’s a character from Greek mythology who offended the gods. As punishment, Sisyphus was ordered to push a rock up a hill. Each time he reached the top, the rock rolled to the bottom. He was condemned to an eternity of pushing the same rock up the same hill. Over and over, up and down—forever.
Sisyphus was condemned to an eternity of struggle without meaning.
Whenever we sat through another mind-numbing meeting or produced another report no one would read–whenever we became entangled in the bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo that took our time and effort away from helping kids learn–my colleague and I would empathize with poor Sisyphus. Pushing another dumb rock up a hill for no reason, knowing full well we’d be back at the bottom doing it all again.
I know–you’re feeling really sorry for me, right?
Well, sympathy’s not really the point. But we’ve all been there, in one way or another, haven’t we? My friend Jeff Lucas characterizes how many folks feel:
We go to work to get the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to get the money to buy the food …
Parents know this feeling, the treadmill of activities and driving here and there and the day’s over and you fall into bed and it’s time to push the rock up the hill again.
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A bunch of people are preparing for the FREEDOM TOUR. About 60 riders will be part of the one-day Prologue on June 10. Smaller teams will do extended tours later in June and July. All of these folks are training.
They get on their bikes, ride a bunch of miles. They do this several times per week, week after week, building up the miles as they go. In most cases they end up right where they started.
Exactly like Sisyphus, right?
Not at all. Sisyphus’ punishment was work without purpose or meaning. He was doomed to the worst sort of life–a life devoid of hope.
The FREEDOM TOUR cyclists train to be part of a story bigger than themselves. They’re refining bodies, minds, and hearts to step into a circle. Many are fundraising, reaching out to bring others into the story. They’re sacrificing to support kids rescued from human trafficking.
This is long-term, purpose-filled work. It’s struggle and preparation embedded with the hope and meaning denied to Sisyphus.
Paul writes, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
Paul doesn’t mean we should compete with each other, but that we should always look long-term and work toward kingdom goals. Thy Kingdom Come … we get to participate.
God never asks you and me to roll a useless rock up a pointless hill. We do that to ourselves, sometimes, when we choose a life of “go to work to get the money to buy the food to get the strength…”
God offers FREEDOM TOUR folks the opportunity to look long-term and realize that He’ll use every mile, dollar, and drop of sweat in ways we can’t imagine if we’ll work together and trust Him for the outcome.
He offers parents the chance to believe He’ll use every bleary-eyed morning and hectic day to build strong, healthy, faithful children.
Kingdom work is long-term, big-picture because that’s God’s view. Often we feel like sad Sisyphus pushing the same dumb boulder up the same meaningless hill. Hope assures us Gods got a bigger, better view.
Except for the bureaucratic stuff. THAT’S Sisyphus work!