IF IT WASN'T HARD, EVERYONE WOULD DO IT

Do you remember the girl's baseball movie, A League of their Own, which includes the unforgettable assertion: “There’s no crying in baseball!” As I've been trying to build back up my mileage for what seems like forever, I’ve thought of another scene from that movie. Dottie, the main character, has determined to leave, right at the climax of the season. The manager says to her, “…sneaking out like this, quitting, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that.” She replies, “It just got too hard. “ And he responds: “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great.” What a great reminder!

Since my fall last July and the subsequent foot issue it has been difficult to get my mileage back up. Right now most of my runs are a lot of self talk and slow progress. But this is life isn't it. Life is filled with difficulties. As a Christian running is just an extension of my life, a life God has called me to, a life with eternal implications. Moreover, as a follower of Jesus Christ I am promised, not ease and comfort, but trouble and persecution. Life will have challenges and difficulties. In short, it will be hard. We live in a broken world, and our bodies and the struggles we have are just part of the evidence of that. But as any runner knows running gets inside you, it's what lights you up and we endure the hard stuff because we understand that's part of what makes it so great! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it...It’s the hard that makes it great!