Why Do I Press On?

So, I told myself that I was going to run tonight because I run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night. Well, the difference tonight was that I'm sick. And tonight I also had to up my resistance to push past my previous goal. My throat was scratchy, my chest hurt, and I just felt a lot weaker tonight that before. So I started running and thought "I'm not going to be able beat my time." Then I thought of the phrase "if you think you can't go any farther, go just a little bit farther." Ah ha! I knew the only way to do that was to quote scripture and ask God for strength. I figure, if my body is the temple of the Lord, I'm doing this for Him...haha I really am! So I started quoting 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" and "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14 It worked. I also kept repeating the phrase "I press on for..." and filling it in with people's names, atrributes of God, works he did, and various reasons why. It's amazing...I came up with at least a hundred!

Then I thought a bit more...what makes me press on? What drives my daily life, my choices, my heart? Thankfully, I was able to say that God does...my love for Him, my desire to serve Him. He is my strength to run the race. Oh yeah, sometimes another path looks better...oooo nice soft grass to run on or a downhill slope instead of an uphill one...but then I have to look towards the goal, the end, the prize!

I guess my point in all this is to say that I pray for me and for all those I come in contact with that the only thing that will drive why they press on and what they run for is the desire to seek God in everything. The choices, the actions, the words...that we will all press on and run for the ultimate goal of pleasing God. THere are so many other paths that can draw our attention, so many things that look better, so many choices that we think we can make on our own and they will be good, but ultimately, God has to have the final say. We have to be running towards Him. He will only lead us to green pastures and still waters.

Peace!