Enduring not Racing

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfast faith in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have Eternal Life."
-2 Nephi 31:20

Life is not a race, but a test of endurance.

One of my favorite memories was running the St. George Marathon.  It was 26.2 miles, and I ran it in 4:12:56.  It was my first marathon and it was quite an achievement, especially my time.  I spent a little more than a year training for this event, running 25-30+ miles a week including 5ks, 10ks, and an occasional half marathon.  It was long, it was hard at times, But it was fun, it was worth it and I am proud of that accomplishment.  Some things that helped me finish my marathon were: Pacing myself, Thinking Positively, Encouraging or serving others, and being Diligent to the end.  I like to see life as another marathon and these four ideas can help us in our "race" in life.

Pace (balance) yourself
To often people get caught up in life.  Everything is at a constant fast pace.  This will usually causes people to disregard certain things which would be of the most importance.  When you don't have a proper balance you will get frustrated and worn out.  A proper balance will include: Family, God, Prayer, and daily scripture study.  Properly balancing yourself will place peace in your life.  It also makes frustrations easier to handle.  (Mosiah 4:17) If I would have sprinted the whole marathon on what training I had, I most likely would have quit at mile 5.  When we are constantly hurrying about life and trying to get everything done at once our own "stamina" would eventually break and then we become bitterly frustrated.

Think Positively
In Matt. 5:12 it says, "Rejoice, and be exceeding(ly) glad: for great is your reward in heaven".  God doesn't want us to be gloomy and sad.  We have much to look forward to.  In a marathon negative thinking will slow even a well seasoned runner down.  I've noticed that when I'm feeling whiny I am really slow.  Life doesn't seem to have much of a purpose when I'm depressed.  When I'm happy I have a ton of energy and I can plow right through obstacles.  It is the same for everyone. So be happy!

Serve Others
I've been told the best way to shoo gloom out the door is by service.  When I serve I feel good.  When I ran my marathon, I would do everything I could to encourage the people I past to keep moving forward.  When I did that I forgot how sore I was and made a few friends on the way.  When we reach out a serve those around us we brighten our day and help lift up the heads that hang down.  I can guarantee that life will mean so much more when you use it to help others because "when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17, Matt 25:40).  We can be God's hands on earth and help them find joy in their trials.

Be Diligent to the end!
There is a point where most runners hit a point where they just want to give up.  This is often called a wall because that's what it feels like; hitting a brick wall.  There will be times where we will hit a "wall" in our life.  Times where we feel like we can't go on.  Balance, Optimism, and service is a continual process.  There will be times where you hit a "wall" and you just want to say, "I've had enough, this is to hard."  Don't quit.  God has told us to "be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:9." Life is not an eternal torment, it is to help us grow.  God gave us difficult experiences for our good, we just need to press forward with faith (D&C 121:7-8, 122:7).  When I crossed that finish line I felt like I had accomplished a great task, and it felt good.

The end is always there, and worth the trial.

Life is going to be hard, but who said it couldn't be worth it?  Just like I felt proud of my accomplishment after that 26.2 mile test of endurance we will feel great joy knowing that we came, saw and conquered our trials with high heads.  Our reward is a great reward, more than we can imagine.  All we have to do is press forward with faith and God will reward with eternal life.