If you've followed any of my updates from Dailymile, you’ll know that the hills in my neighborhood have been a cause for much straining, especially the last one I have to climb on the way back to the house at the end of my runs. Most days I do well just to get up it walking, much less running! But an interesting thing happened when I ran my first race last weekend. It was the Polar Bear Run, a 5K down in Marietta and was on a course with fewer hills than my neighborhood. Guess what happened. I finished the race in just over 30 minutes, with a per mile time of 9:45!
569 MICHAEL OGLES ADAIRSVILLE GA 9191 54 M 30:13.50 9:45/M
Now, I know that isn’t all that great to many of you, but for me it was amazing! I haven't run a race since 1987 and have only been training for a few months. I had only hoped for a time around 12 minutes per mile. Those hills in my neighborhood had actually HELPED me when I got to the race! It gave me a new appreciation for them!
Then I realized a spiritual lesson out of all this –
When we experience hardships or trials (hills that are hard to get over) in our lives, we seldom see beyond them and the strain and stress that they cause at the moment. But the Bible says they have a specific purpose in our lives – to help us mature - if we will let them. This is how James puts it.
569 MICHAEL OGLES ADAIRSVILLE GA 9191 54 M 30:13.50 9:45/M
Now, I know that isn’t all that great to many of you, but for me it was amazing! I haven't run a race since 1987 and have only been training for a few months. I had only hoped for a time around 12 minutes per mile. Those hills in my neighborhood had actually HELPED me when I got to the race! It gave me a new appreciation for them!
Then I realized a spiritual lesson out of all this –
When we experience hardships or trials (hills that are hard to get over) in our lives, we seldom see beyond them and the strain and stress that they cause at the moment. But the Bible says they have a specific purpose in our lives – to help us mature - if we will let them. This is how James puts it.
James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So now I have a different view of those hills - and the trials that come unannounced and unwanted! Yes, they’re still hard, but I now know that they can bring strength and endurance if we let them work as God plans. I can't control what comes my way, but I can determine how I respond to it.
Got any hills in your life?
