3 miles into my 20-mile run, a bug flew straight into my right eye. Fantastic…if you’ve ever had that happen, you know how uncomfortable it is. If not, it’s not anything I’d recommend 😂 I immediately tried to rub it out while still running, but no luck. So, I sucked it up and dealt with the uncomfortableness knowing eventually it would go away (I’ve had this happen before and this go around, about 15 minutes after my run was over, I rubbed my eye and out came the bug). Had this been the case when I first started running long distance 11 years ago, I can almost guarantee you I would have stopped until I got the bug out. Or just quit the run completely. But because I’m a more experienced runner, because I’ve gone through many different trials on runs, it takes a lot more for me to quit. I know I can push through most things that come my way and have strengthened my mindset through the years to stay positive and determined.
This reminded me of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Jesus talks about seed that gets thrown onto 4 different types of ground and relates it to people hearing God’s word. “Seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.” This is compared to seed falling on good soil which, “refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
We will always have trials that come our way in life, some big and some small, and these can derail us if we are not firmly rooted in God’s word and His promises. Just like anything in life, if you spend the time and energy to grow, your efforts will eventually pay off. If you continue to seek God and stay consistent in His word, when trials come your way, it’s going to be much harder to knock you off course.