Persistence
I was thinking today about persistence. I'm not really sure why my thoughts randomly went in this direction while I was driving through Westerville, but I found myself thinking about how we often give up too early. And not just on goals (like I wrote about yesterday). We also give up on people, when persistence may be what is actually needed. Let me tell you a story...
I have mentioned multiple times my recent running habits. But I actually started running in high school. Here's how it happened:
My older brother ran cross country, and decided that I should too. He was in college, and had come home for the summer. I was going into my junior year of high school. Because we had moved and he didn't know anyone in our new area to run with, he had gotten in touch with the cross country coach, and he told me that he was a good beginners coach, and I should run cross country. I told him I hated running, so it really didn't matter how good the coach was. But he kept bugging me about it. Then he mentioned it in front of some of my friends - who happened to be on the cross country team. And they started bugging me about it, telling me that I should run cross country - I told them the same thing: "I hate running - why would I run cross country?" But they didn't give up. Then one day we were in a music rehearsal for band camp, and my friend Maggie came in and and waved at me to come talk to her. So I went out in the hall, and she told me that one of the girls had just quit cross country. This meant they only had 4 girls, and you have to have 5 to be counted as a team and win any meets. And my response was an exasperated, "Fine, I'll run." And I did - for both my junior and senior year.
I was never good. I was just happy on the occasions I didn't come in last. My goal was to do a 5k in less than 30 minutes - my very last race I finished in 29:58, which was incredibly exciting. And then I stopped running almost entirely for many years, but my running success, or lack thereof, is not the point of this story. The point is that the people who wanted me to run cross country didn't give up. They kept asking me. And I really did hate running, but I did it. And other than hating it while I was running, it was a good part of my high school experience. And isn't it funny that I run frequently now? And longer distances than I ever ran in high school. I can probably attribute all of that to the people who didn't give up on the idea of me running cross country.
I'm not suggesting that you should go out and bug people to start running (though healthy choices are a good thing to encourage). But I am saying that we can't give up on people. I once heard God described as the relentless lover - the one who never gives up on us. And we shouldn't give up on loving each other either, after all we are God's hands and feet. That doesn't mean there's not a time to let go - but letting go is not the same thing as giving up. Letting go means remembering that we are not God and we are not in control.
When it comes to goals and dreams, we keep trying. When it comes to people, we keep loving. And we can know that no matter how hard any of it gets, we are always loved as well.
I have mentioned multiple times my recent running habits. But I actually started running in high school. Here's how it happened:
My older brother ran cross country, and decided that I should too. He was in college, and had come home for the summer. I was going into my junior year of high school. Because we had moved and he didn't know anyone in our new area to run with, he had gotten in touch with the cross country coach, and he told me that he was a good beginners coach, and I should run cross country. I told him I hated running, so it really didn't matter how good the coach was. But he kept bugging me about it. Then he mentioned it in front of some of my friends - who happened to be on the cross country team. And they started bugging me about it, telling me that I should run cross country - I told them the same thing: "I hate running - why would I run cross country?" But they didn't give up. Then one day we were in a music rehearsal for band camp, and my friend Maggie came in and and waved at me to come talk to her. So I went out in the hall, and she told me that one of the girls had just quit cross country. This meant they only had 4 girls, and you have to have 5 to be counted as a team and win any meets. And my response was an exasperated, "Fine, I'll run." And I did - for both my junior and senior year.
I was never good. I was just happy on the occasions I didn't come in last. My goal was to do a 5k in less than 30 minutes - my very last race I finished in 29:58, which was incredibly exciting. And then I stopped running almost entirely for many years, but my running success, or lack thereof, is not the point of this story. The point is that the people who wanted me to run cross country didn't give up. They kept asking me. And I really did hate running, but I did it. And other than hating it while I was running, it was a good part of my high school experience. And isn't it funny that I run frequently now? And longer distances than I ever ran in high school. I can probably attribute all of that to the people who didn't give up on the idea of me running cross country.
I'm not suggesting that you should go out and bug people to start running (though healthy choices are a good thing to encourage). But I am saying that we can't give up on people. I once heard God described as the relentless lover - the one who never gives up on us. And we shouldn't give up on loving each other either, after all we are God's hands and feet. That doesn't mean there's not a time to let go - but letting go is not the same thing as giving up. Letting go means remembering that we are not God and we are not in control.
When it comes to goals and dreams, we keep trying. When it comes to people, we keep loving. And we can know that no matter how hard any of it gets, we are always loved as well.
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