goals

Hope Has Feet

| Marie Griffith

Last week I wrote about making headway. Sometimes the headway is painful. Sometimes it’s slow and feels like no headway at all. I used my running journey as an example because lately my running is terrible. My body hurts. I can’t get my breathing right. And my pace is off. Since then I’ve had two fantastic runs!

I came close to talking myself right out of the first one. It was freezing outside when I woke up before the sun. I dreaded the run already and had more time to dread it while my windshield defrosted. I struggled to be positive on my drive to the park, but I ran my goal and it felt great. And I had another good run today. Maybe I have my running groove back.

I do know this: If I hope to be a runner, I have to run. Or sometimes barely jog. Or maybe I alternate walking and running. But I keep at it. I do the work of running. So what if I go through a season of painful off-paced running? I still do it.

It’s that way with anything we hope for.

If we hope to publish a book one day, we make the time to write. We hope to go to grad school, then we find out what it will take and do it. We want to travel, then we do the work of saving and planning. We hope for a good marriage, then we learn to love our spouses the way we want to be loved, and do the hard thing of loving when it’s not easy. We hope for deep friendships, then let’s be the kind of friends that make it possible. Anything we hope for must be worked for.

Hope doesn’t wait around for something to happen. Hope is not an idle wish for things to get better. Hope has feet. Hope compels us to move forward. Toward our goals and dreams, and the people in our lives. Hope moves us patiently and steadily in the direction of all the good things, all the God things our hearts desire.

Even a long season of waiting can be a hopeful and purposeful time of growth. But hope always looks and moves forward.

What is it you hope for? How are you moving toward it? Have you ever lost hope?

Thank you, Joanna Schley, for the sweet photo.

Not Just Them

| Marie Griffith

The new year brings the feeling of fresh starts and new possibilities. I feel it. You feel it. And the advertisers know we feel it. They seize every opportunity to take advantage of our desire for change.

To make sure change happens we’ll set goals and make charts. We’ll give up this and starting doing that. Some of us will pursue simplicity and purge all the extra stuff from our lives. We’ll clean out, give away, and organize.

Deep down we know the change we want is more than a neat house or different numbers on a scale. It’s more than the places we’ll go and the stuff we’ll buy.

Maybe the writer of Hebrews wrote his letter at the start of a new year. Maybe he saw the people were distracted with lots of other things. Maybe the people were weary and wanted change desperately. So after a bunch of reminders and several warnings the writer gave them much needed encouragement. Then he urged them to do three things. But not just them. He said us.

Let us draw near to God…

Let us hold unswervingly to hope…

Let us consider how we can spur one another on in love…

You’ll find these in Hebrews Chapter 10 verses 22- 25. Read the entire passage for yourself. It’s a good one. And whether or not the author of the letter wrote it at the beginning of the year or not, I think it’d be a good way to start one. A lot of change would definitely happen.

And the most important kind of change.

Making It Happen

| Marie Griffith

Next week I’ll fly to Tampa to run in my last race of the year. The longest and most challenging one yet.

IMG_5897A group of us started training in January and next week we’ll get to experience the joy of accomplishing what we set out to do……..the reward of almost 12 months of dedication and hard work.

Our goal: The Spartan Trifecta – to conquer a Sprint, Super, and Beast in one calendar year.

This race is the final piece of our Trifecta. The culmination of all our training and commitment. It will be grueling, but oh the joy will be sweet.

Because the longer and harder you work…….the more it means.

And this means a lot. Three years ago I couldn’t run a quarter mile without stopping. I’ve come a long way since the Couch to 5K app and running my first 5K in 2015.

I’m not sure what’s next in my journey but whatever it is I plan to work at it with as much courage and dedication and surround myself with those that will cheer me on, push me, and lift me up when needed.

I couldn’t do this alone. These women and my family have been a vital part of my conquering.

So here’s to setting goals and making them happen. Here’s to taking on new challenges and overcoming obstacles. And here’s to doing it with some of the most beautiful and strongest people I know.

No compromising here.

Someday

| Marie Griffith

Someday I’ll write that book.

I’ll travel when I have more money.image

Next year I’ll learn a new language.

I’ll go back to school when I have more time.

I’ll reconnect with my friend soon.

Monday I’ll start eating healthier and exercising.

Someday I’ll patch things up with my dad.

Tomorrow I’ll apologize to my brother.

Someday won’t just happen. You have to make it happen.

Stop making excuses. Stop waiting for more time or more money or better circumstances. Don’t wait until you’re not scared anymore.

Someday can be today. Step into the fear. Make the call. Book the trip. Enroll in that class. Skip the McDonald’s value meal and go for a walk instead.

Make today the someday you’ve talked about for years. Move toward what you’ve always wanted to do and see what happens.

You have nothing to lose!

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.    Ephesians 2:10 NIV

 

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