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.
I hope to publish a novel. I keep plugging away at it. Bit by bit. A little bit at a time.
I’m a runner and a writer and can so relate with these last few posts you’ve published. Thank you for your insights and inspiration.
Thanks Lonna. That’s how you do it. One step at a time, one word at a time. Just moving toward it.
I love that you do the work even when you don’t feel like doing it. That’s the only way I’ve achieved much of anything. ? My hope was to start a blog. I’d had this hope for years and a couple false starts but never followed through…. Until now.
Way to go following through with the blog. Keep at it. You’re encouraging others and that’s important work.
Yes. So true! If we don’t work toward our hope, it is simply a fleeting dream. Love that you encourage us to follow through with our dreams! Your honesty and upbeat perspective are so inspiring! Thank you!
And so…I don’t know if you accept blog awards (It’s okay if you don’t), but I wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award. You can find more details at http://throughinkandimage.com/2018/03/15/two-blogging-awards/
Congratulations, 🙂 and hug to you!
Thank you Lynn. I’m honored that you would think of me for the Sunshine Blogger award, but the thoughtful comments and interactions with others is the best kind of award. Many blessings to you.
[…] Marie at Live Like it Matters published a couple posts this month that really resonated with me. She is a Christian, a writer, and a runner (all things I have in common with her), and her posts are usually easy for me to relate to. The short posts she puts up on her blog always seem to encourage me and brighten my day. In her post “Hope Has Feet,” she says that “hope is not an idle wish for things to get better” but it “compels us to move forward.” It gives us a reason to work hard, and with perseverance we move forward bit by bit. Take a look at Marie’s the full post here. […]
Thanks for your kind words Lonna!