Finish Well
My exercise of choice, after years of trying lots of other things, is walking. We live in a quiet sub-division, and it is a joy to walk around our neighborhood. However, when the calendar page flips to May I begin to number the days it will be comfortable to walk outside. By the time June arrives, I am looking for an alternate plan. Of course, I could get up a lot earlier and beat the heat, but ever since we entered that lovely season called retirement – getting up early isn’t the option of choice.
There is a mall that isn’t too far away. It’s not a very popular mall, so there aren’t a lot of people to dodge. It’s a bit on the small side and not terribly interesting, but it does have one thing that makes it perfect – air conditioning. So on these hot, triple-digit summer days, we hop in the car and drive to the mall.
Since it isn’t very big, we have to walk six complete circuits to get in our two miles. Now I must confess, I really don’t like walking in the mall. It’s boring. The same thing over and over again. I would much rather be outside breathing in fresh air, but – air conditioning.
I do really well for the first couple of turns around the mall, but by the third time around I begin to get a little weary. As I near the end of lap three I begin to hear this little voice in my head:
“Oh man, you’re only half done. You have to do this three more times. Three more! It’s so boring, and your leg is beginning to ache. I just don’t think you can do this three more times. No way.”
I look at my husband (who is always way ahead of me), and watch as he steps off into the fourth lap of this old mall and decide I need to keep going – at least for one more lap. I really have to push myself and try hard not to think of how many more times I’ll have to do it.
When I complete lap four, it somehow seems a little easier to keep going. After all – only two more to go. I keep going, and before I know it I’ve completed five and am on the home stretch. A different voice echoes in my mind:
“See. That wasn’t so bad. Look at you – nearly done. Isn’t it great to finish well?”
Yes, I think, it’s great to finish well. I whisper a little prayer asking the Lord to help me: On those days when I feel as though I can’t make it through another day – help me finish well. During those times, when faith comes hard and nothing seems to go as it should – help me finish well. When I’m just too weary to take another step – help me finish well. When shame and regret weigh me down – help me to look ahead and finish well.
I think, sometimes, He waits for me to take the next step. Then He comes to walk beside me and give me everything I need to make it through.
“I press on toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly) prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.” Philippians 3:14
Blessings,
Linda
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I love to walk, and pray as I walk.
I often feels the same way Linda. I don’t want to keep going, because I don’t see the end ahead of. I too stop to ask God to give me a push to finish well.