The flower that follows the sun does so even in the cloudy days. – Robert Leighton

We are all familiar with the phrase, “when it rains, it pours”, right? It seems when life throws an obstacle our way, it tends to rain an abundance of them. We never can catch a break and as a result we feel heavily burdened.

Yesterday, I ran what would be my 6th half marathon, The St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon. All week-long, the weather man forecasted rain for the event.  In my daily prayers, I prayed that God would hold the rain or shift the course it was on. After all, He parted the Red Sea, I think He was more than capable to answer a little prayer. As it turned out, it rained the whole day.

The morning started out with one road block after another. When trying to reach the start line, my friends and I hit at least 10 road blocks and were forced to abandon our car and set out on foot to the start line.  We had to run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes or we would miss the start of the race.  My friends had no problem voicing how agitated they were about the inconvenience which started weighing me down mentally.

The race was delayed around 15 minutes so that pushed the time we crossed the start line. It typically takes 30 minutes, this time it took an hour. There we were, standing in our corals, huddling with thousands of runners, and in the pouring rain. Clothes drenched, feet soaking wet, and we hadn’t even crossed the line yet.

I could have easily complained, whined, and groaned about how irritated or uncomfortable I was. I had every opportunity to. I was soaking wet, cold, my knees were hurting due to the rain, and I could feel a blister to begin forming on my toe. God had every opportunity to stop or hold back the rain and for whatever reason, He did not. I think He wanted to test our resolve, to see if we had what it took to finish the course.

It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but I did not spend all those months training for it to go to waste. I was going to finish no matter what. So I set out on my journey to have fun, to finish strong, and with joy. And with that, I did.

In case you need a little “proof” 🙂

We are all given a specific course in life in which we must follow. For some, we have to overcome abuse, some of us have dealt with infidelity and betrayal, and some of us have had to deal with loss.  And all that remains is a feeling of defeat and a broken heart.

Our life paths are difficult, draining, often leave us injured, but if we are not careful, we can miss out on the joy that it brings. When I think about yesterday’s half marathon, I can actually say that I had fun. I ran with amazing friends and other runners who inspired me to be great, to go in for the long haul, and to not give up.

When it rains, I can either pour out negativity, or I can pour out positivity. I’m not saying I’m Suzy Sunshine all the time, but I hope the message I bring is to look at the bright side of things, see the glass as half full instead of empty.

It’s true, we will all be physically and mentally tired from fighting off distractions and discomforts. We will always have obstacles to face. But if we stay focused, with our eye on the prize, we might find the end was worth every ounce of pain and we have a little shiny medal to show for it. 🙂