Thursday, October 15, 2009

Our Daily Marathons

You know, running 26.2 miles in a marathon was really, really hard. The pain was excruciating.

But lately I've been thinking about how sometimes life can be really, really hard too. Sometimes the pain is excruciating. I think many people are in the midst of running their own personal marathon.

Over the last few days I've looked into the eyes of people who are fighting their way through a marathon:

  • The little girl at school who gets teased by the boys and doesn't have any friends.
  • The dad who isn't able to sleep at night because he lost his job and doesn't know how he is going to put food on the table for his family.
  • The mom who feels like she is being swallowed by depression and can't seem to break free.
  • The man who has failing health and is tormented by constant pain.

Seeing these struggles makes my heart hurt. I think our own daily marathons are much more difficult than running 26.2 miles.

In a real marathon, crowds line the street and cheer you on. When you feel like you can't put one foot in front of the other, the cheering gives you strength. But most of the challenges in life are quiet, inward, personal battles. We don't have screaming crowds to get us through.

In an actual marathon, you know where the finish line is. But in our life challenges, often we don't know how much farther until the finish line. Sometimes we're not even sure there is a finish line.

While I was running the race, I could feel the love and support from my family. It helped keep me going. I have to think that God is watching from the sidelines, loving and supporting us too. When life gets hard, I have to believe that God will give us the strength we need to get us to the finish line. He knows us and will be with us as we run our daily marathons.

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