For the month of July, my husband and I set ourselves a challenge: walk every day. Our minimum distance was 2.4 miles each day, but we pushed ourselves harder and ended up walking about 4 miles daily.
Today is the last day of the month, and I’m pleased to report that we accomplished our goal this morning!
Some days were easier than others. Some mornings my knees gave me a fit. Some mornings were so humid and still that we went home coated in sweat from head to toe. Some mornings, I wanted to hide in a tree stump and die in peace.
Okay, so maybe that’s exaggerating a bit, but you know what I mean. The point is, we didn’t give up, even on days when we traveled. We adjusted and found trails to walk. We worked hard and drove each other to keep on going.
At the end of it all, the best feeling was that we accomplished what we set out to achieve. And not only did we accomplish it, we exceeded our own expectations by ending with a 5 mile walk.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Philippians 1:6 (NIV): “being confident of this that He who began a good work in you will carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
We all want purpose and meaning for our lives. Those things drive us to set goals and work hard to make ourselves and the world around us a better place. And God wants that for us too; otherwise, why would He have placed such a drive within us?
We can be confident that He has begun a good work in our lives that we are to walk in daily. We aren’t meant to stay stuck and stagnant. We are meant to thrive and move forward. Not every season we encounter will be bright and happy, but we aren’t meant to camp out in the gray, glum seasons forever either. Our walk with God is just that–a walk: a verb, an action.
Our goal should be to face each day with the determination to show Christ to each person we encounter and never stop, not until God determines we are finished and calls us home to Himself. And He isn’t intending for us to just accomplish what He set for us, but to exceed our expectations every step of our way. He wants us to learn, grow, and thrive.
Friend, I pray that you will face every new challenge as an opportunity for growth, and that you will work for the Lord to finish well, so that when you stand before Him, you will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23)
Finish well.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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