Just Keep Going

When I was in high school, I asked my friend Alex, who is one of the best runners I know, what his best tips were if I wanted to improve my endurance. I was expecting some kind of secret food he eats or a program he used, but he just said "Just start running, and don't stop". It seemed simple enough in theory, but sometimes when you are trying to do it, it kind of stinks. You want someone to tell you that the secret to improving in life is to stop and to walk up hills or to sit down when your legs hurt. But one morning last week, when I was repeating Alex's advice to myself, I thought about this quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain."

And then one of my favorite quotes of all time by President David O. McKay:

“I hope that some day you will … meet a wall that seems insurmountable, impregnable; but if duty lies beyond that wall, do not stand back and say, ‘I cannot do it.’ You may aspire to do it, but that is not sufficient. Do what James … says: Ask God for power, but add to that faith, an acknowledgment of your own ability to do what you are able to do.

“You can walk from where you stand, up to the wall. When you get there, and you have gone as far as you can, you will find in answer to your prayer that there is a hidden ladder by which you can scale it, or there is a door which you could not see from where you were first standing. God’s hand is shown”

These wise words from these great men always remind me that in life, like in running, what we are trying to do might seem impossible. It might hurt and we might really, really want to give up and crawl back into bed and forget that we ever tried to do anything hard or uncomfortable. But where is the good in that? When do we see the Lord's hand but when we put our trust in Him and keep moving forward. That is faith at its simplest...and eventually it will get easier, and you wonder why you even whined in the first place because you grew so much. I promise, it happens.