Is it just me or is the last 5 minutes of your run the hardest and the worst part?
At the beginning of this year I decided to start running again. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking because running is my least favorite form of exercise. I would honestly rather do anything else besides run. I had reached a point that my regular workouts were no longer challenging me and I was looking to shake up my routine. I joined a local gym where I could run on a treadmill because, believe me when I tell you, my body really does not like outdoor running. Trying to run on concrete makes my entire body hurt and not the good workout kind of hurt. My first walk/run on a treadmill was brutal but for 45 minutes, I was able to get out of my own head and challenge myself. Three days a week I got on that treadmill for 45 minutes and pushed myself to become stronger. As I was running the other day, I noticed that what is the hardest part of the run for me was that last 5 minutes. You know the part I’m talking about. The part when you’re tired, you’re breathless, you’re dripping sweat, everything in your body hurts and you just want to be done. If you’re competitive like me, you dig deep and manage to finish the run. It might not be pretty or easy but finishing that run is such a great feeling.
It struck me the other day how life is a lot like that run. Life is made up of easy seasons and hard seasons. When you start out in the hard season, you’re fresh and you think that you can handle it. As time goes on and things don’t get easier, you start to tire and wonder when this season is going to be over. You begin to feel the physical and emotional weight of that season. You think how much easier it would be to just quit and throw in the towel. Here’s the thing: just like my run, we often want to quit right at the last five minutes when we’re so close to being done. If we quit at that point, we never benefit from seeing the full outcome that the season produced. It’s during those hard seasons that we become stronger and more reliant on God.
The thing to remember is that while God doesn’t necessarily cause the hard seasons, He allows them in order to do a work in us. I am currently in a season that’s lasted far longer than I thought and, if I’m honest, has started to take its toll. There are days when it feels like that last 5 minutes of my run and I want to quit. Those are the days when I turn the worship music up louder than the thoughts in my head and I reach for my Bible. One of my favorites during this season is Romans 8:27-29. Verse 28 is very well known: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It sounds nice but it holds so much more power when read with the verse before and after it. “27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Read it a couple of times to let that sink in. Not only does he work all things together for our good but he also intercedes for us and he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. I don’t know about you but knowing that the Holy Spirit intercedes for me according to the will of God just makes that verse hit different. It’s easy to believe that God has abandoned me in the hard seasons but the truth is that the Holy Spirit is interceding for me in order to work all things for my good. Not only is He interceding but He has also predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son. Being conformed to His image is so much better than anything I could imagine or strive for. All of my fears and insecurities are stripped away when I allow myself to be made in His image. I become the best version of myself which allows me to walk in my giftings and abilities despite the seasons that I walk through.
What I’ve learned during this season is when you hit those the last five minutes, it’s important to have a support system and really lean into that support system. Just like having a gym buddy who cheers you on when you want to give up, a good support system lifts up you and supports you. No matter what NEVER GIVE UP.
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)