Time Flies

I never cease to be amazed at how fast time flies. One moment you’re worried about teenagers; the next you’re holding grandchildren. It's been a half a year since I've posted to my own blog!

It’s stunning how quickly things can change. Blink twice and your whole life can be different. I mean, look back. Did you ever think things would turn out this way? Did you expect to be where you are right now?

When we’re going through the fire, it seems to take forever. With a little effort and a lot of faith, a year or two later, things can be completely different. So can you.

We need to start thinking about the big picture. That doesn’t mean we don’t do the little things we should do every day. It just means that we might take a wider view of things.

Start seeing things how they can be, instead of just looking in the mirror. The bible says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.”

Sure it’s important to see things as they are. Otherwise it’s called denial. But what you’re seeing or might be feeling doesn’t always tell you everything you need to know. It’s not that it isn’t real. It’s just that there might be something even more real.

Last year, I took up running with my son, and we’ve been training for another marathon this coming April 15th. We do speed work on Tuesdays, a 30 minute recovery run on Thursdays, and the dreaded distance run on Saturdays. This weekend it was 15 miles!

Even though I’ve done it before, there were a bunch of times Saturday, when I was thinking, how do you go from 15 miles to 26? I wanted to just slow down and quit running.

But that’s why you train. It’s what gets you to the next level. We did 7 miles one weekend, then 9 miles the next, Then 11 miles, 13, and last Saturday, 15 miles. Next weekend, it’s 17 miles, and so on.

Of course it’s really hard today, but if I just follow the program and don’t have any injuries, God willing, in a couple months I’ll be ready. My endurance will be greater, and I’ll be ready.

I probably won’t ever be a running machine like my son, but if I’m faithful and keep at it, I’ll be better than I am now. I’ve got to keep the big picture in mind.

Another strategy is to break things up into smaller chunks. If it’s too big to even think about, do what you can, and don’t worry about the rest. Just do the next important thing.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, and you’ve tried and failed, don’t think about losing 80 pounds. Think about your next workout. Get to the gym.

Think about making better food choices the next time you sit down to eat. Break it up into what you do tomorrow, or next week.

Around 10 ½ miles, I just couldn’t see doing 15, so I started focusing on finishing that mile. Then I started number 12, and just thought about getting through that one. It was tough, but it worked.

I had a nice surprise when I got to mile 13. After all that pain and trouble, it turns out my time was 2 ½ minutes faster than the last half marathon last November. I was actually doing better!

Well now. That helped. The last 2 miles were much easier. I guess I was so close to the goal now, that if I did 13, what’s another 2 miles? You get that close, you know you can go the distance.

I did another mile and got to number 14. Only one left. Ten more minutes. Sure it hurt, but it didn’t hurt any more. I remember thinking…you know, 17 won’t be that bad.What’s your big picture? What do you see in your head when you dare to dream a little bit?