Have you ever trained for a race?

These are my friend Bethany’s feet. She’s avid about getting her runs in. But no one-starts out like this, everyone has a day 1.

Perhaps in the middle of day 1 or 2 of training your mind and body were so fatigued you wanted to give up. If you’re an elite runner and have done marathons you’re well acquainted with hitting the wall.

“lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,”‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Those who push through do mental gymnastics, speak positive affirmations, and push through the fatigue, pain, and negative thinking.

Finishing any kind of race doesn’t just take physical preparation it takes mental preparation too.

Summer can feel like the perfect time to take a break from many areas of our lives. We travel more, fill free time with “fun”, slow down in heat but speed up in other ways. It’s a break, but should we be taking a break from the things that steady us? Grant us peace? Give us abundance to overflow to others?

It’s not just harder to walk like Jesus when we allow Him to be shelved and placed at a lesser priority it’s impossible.

You don’t have to be up to your eyeballs in memorized scripture, be in prayer for 12 hours daily, constantly serving, or only speak to other like believers to be a growing individual. You do however need to maintain intimacy with Christ. You do need to be prepared to do mental gymnastics when you haven’t picked your Bible up or talked to God.

I’ve lingered over this thought quite a lot: I’ve given my whole life to Jesus. Everything. And yet there are some days in the middle I haven’t.

What’s more important, the overarching declaration of being a Christ follower or in the middle everyday walking with Jesus and drawing nearer to Him in intimacy?

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Question of the day: have you been solely relying on Jesus to complete the work? Or yourself?