Our Eyes on the Goal

Our Eyes on the Goal

The other night Jack and I watched a television drama called "See How She Runs." The story concerned a 40-year-old divorced teacher from Boston who decided to become a jogger and eventually entered the 26 Mile Boston Marathon. To finish the race became her goal, and in spite of being harassed, jeered at and assaulted, she did not lose sight of it. The day of the race came and she faced her ultimate test.

As she ran, huge blisters developed on her feet. She was also hit and injured by bicycle. And several miles short of the finish line found her utterly exhausted. Yet she kept going. Then, within a few hundred yards of the finish line, late at night when most other runners had either finished or dropped out, she fell and lay flat on her face, too tired to raise her head. But her friends had put up the crude tape across the finish line and began to cheer her on. She lifted her head with great effort, saw the tape, and realized her goal was within sight. With a supreme effort she got up on her bruised and bleeding feet, and in a burst of energy dredged up from deep inside her courageous heart, she ran the last few yards.

She had kept her eyes on the goal and for the joy of finishing, she endured. We are to do what our example, Jesus Christ, did on earth. He kept looking at the goal, not the going. He was seeing the prize, not the process; the treasure, not to trial; the joy, not the journey.

And we must do the same! By Carole Mayhall