One Who Continues
11 miles in. That’s where the thoughts start creeping in. It’s here you recognize how much better it’d feel if you just stopped running. At any step – I could. In my third half marathon the other week, I had an interesting moment as I was running my eleventh mile – I was thankful.
If you’ve been around Life Roots much over the past couple years, you’ll know we’ve talked quite a bit about endurance and perseverance. James tells us to consider it joy when we face trials (James 1:2-4). I’d heard that verse and talked about it so many times in the past, but it was an hour and half into running the other week that I began to see it with fresh eyes.
See, when it comes to endurance training, you can prepare and prepare and prepare, but nothing’s like race day. Regardless of how used to 13.1 miles you might be, there is always a point in the race where it gets challenging. My point came in the eleventh mile.
When training, it’s not possible to replicate the real thing in its entirety. You’re pushing yourself a little harder. There’s the emotion and excitement of running a course. The list goes on. Towards the end of the race, I had a moment when I wanted to stop.
It was almost like time stood still for a moment. I realized what I was stepping into. I was presented with an opportunity, a choice. This choice wasn’t something I could fully prepare for in practice. It’s one you can only step into when it presents itself.
The key to James’ first point in his letter is not about trials, it’s about growing the muscle of endurance. Trials function as the means to which endurance becomes developed. You can’t manufacture trials, they happen when they happen. James is trying to tune our antenna to an opportunity to grow.
In that eleventh mile, as I came back to and continued the race I found a smile on my face. I said this to the Lord, “thank you for the opportunity to push myself through something hard.” The only way to practice this is to be faced with a hard situation – this is James’ point.
With that smile and perspective, I continued and pushed through. Friend, is there a trial or a challenging circumstance that you’re currently presented with? I get it, the ease to which we can give in to melancholy and let the opportunity slip by is startling. Can I encourage you – there’s another way through the challenge.
God’s Word promises us that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). James continues, “for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:3-4).
Maybe you find yourself in the middle of your own eleventh mile, and if not, one’s on the way. Next time you’re faced with a challenge, see it is a unique and specific opportunity to grow in your endurance, to lean on the Lord in a new way, and to find the joy and satisfaction of being one who continued.
