A Marathon of Character

On October 27, 2018, history was made in sports.  The World Series ended in 18 innings with the longest time of a World Series game.  Neither team wanted to give up and just lose.  The Los Angeles Dodgers won the game.  Whether or not they win the series is mute.  The fact that they kept going when they were tired, hungry, nervous, unsettled, made mistakes, and extended time to play, is more of an indication to their character than winning the whole series.  Character is revealed when we have to endure and keep going, even when it seems like our struggles will never end. 

In our society today, we expect rewards in life to come quickly without any preparation or without any trials.  We look enviously at people who succeed at their desires in life, while not realizing all the turbulence that they endured to get to the top.  We just want to get to the top.  We just want to have the reward without doing the work.  We read the accounts in the Bible and believe that the people did not have to endure any trials.  We are not reading those accounts correctly if we really believe that.  The trials that those who succeed are immense and intense.  It’s why they succeed. 

When we read the story of David and his defeat of Goliath, we forget that David had killed lions and bears as a shepherd.  He was young, but he was strong and brave.  He was already a warrior before he faced Goliath.  He had to be in order to become the king of Israel.  Esther had endured the death of her parents and many people in her community.  Her uncle raised her and she developed an attitude to be kind to everyone, which benefited her when the king chose her as his bride. 

Life has struggles.  It is during the difficult times that we grow.  It is with the marathons of bad jobs, toxic relationships, diseases, and financial struggles that we discover who we are.  It’s not the good times that we grow, but the times in life that present themselves to be a marathon in which our character is tried and developed.  It’s up to us to decide how we will handle it. 

I never thought I would ever say that getting fired was the best thing that happened to me, but it was.  I was stuck in a job that felt like that eighteen-inning baseball game.  Life just kept going and going and doing the same exact activities, and I was becoming an invisible and weak person.  Once I was fired, it was like the homerun that woke me up in the middle of the night.  It was over.  I was free.  I was empowered.  I discovered that God likes me and loves me. 

We will have trials in life.  James 1 reminds us of that.  James also tells us that when we have trials we are to persevere, so that we can have a stronger character in the end.  The trials come, and if we persevere, we will become new in Christ and able to pursue our goals and bring our love to Jesus to others. 

If we want to do anything significant in life, we must live life like a marathon.  There will be entrances that are full of hope, but the middle appears monotonous and difficult.  When we keep going, we arrive at the end and look back at our journey that created a path for us to do great things for God.  Jesus didn’t promise easy.  He promised he would be with us.  It is with that promise that I can continue my journey to inspire and encourage others to do their best in life and make a difference for others.