Never Look Away

          Last December I started training for a half marathon. This was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have done for myself to date. There were days where I would have an awesome run, I would stay motivated and sometimes even run further than what my goal for the day was. There were other days where I just really didn't want to run so I would set out to run and the entire time my mind wasn't focused and I would end the run discouraged. On one of these "bad" run days I was running with my husband and he told me to look straight ahead and pick a focal point far away. I did and I told him what it was and then he said "don't take your eyes off of it until you have reached it." This became my method for running I would pick something out a billboard or a tree and not take my eyes off until I reached it. Once I had reached it I would pick my next focal point and this would keep my mind occupied until my run was complete.

       In the 9th grade Brian decided that he wanted to be a dentist. He says from that point on his focus for studying for getting up and going to class were all driven on being a dentist. In college when he took Organic Chemistry and hated every second of it he says the thing that got him through was focusing on the ultimate goal he had set for himself...being a dentist. On weekdays when his classmates skipped class to go float the buffalo he stayed back and went to class because his eyes were still on the prize that he had set in the 9th grade.


      A couple of weeks before Christmas I went to my grandma's house to pick her up to go shopping. While she was still getting dressed I sat in her den. On her coffee table her bible lay open and a post it was stuck to the page that was open and it read "NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF JESUS." At the time this was precious to me and still as I type this my heart is warm for the love that my grandma has for Jesus and for the lesson that this post it note taught me. NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF JESUS...it sounds so simple or maybe it sounds so silly b/c we can't really see Him.

     The prize, the goal is Jesus? I say I believe that but then I get distracted by wanting the goal to be that new purse I have been saving up for. Or I make the goal about decorating the babies nursery. There are so many distractions in this world. So many things that take my eyes away from Jesus the true focal point. My prayer for this year is to keep my eyes on the prize. To look onward to the goal of Jesus.