Water bottles in hand and determination in our eyes, we set out. The warm-up was more strenuous than I expected. Breaths came quick, sharp. Droplets of sweat dampened my hair. Then it was time to run. Feet pounded pavement. Pain shot through my shins, coursing north and south to my knees and ankles. I made it a tiny distance before slowing down to a walk.
Keep your head up. Look at the back of my shirt. Are you okay? You can do this.
Despite CJ's encouragement, my body could not follow THE PLAN. Too many pounds and too little exercise had brought me to this place where my body screamed in agony. The extra weight a hindrance to the race I wanted to run.
It's not the only struggle I'm facing.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
~Hebrews 12:1-4
God beckons me to strip off and throw aside (Amplified) many things that are weighing me down.
Weight.
Excuses.
Expectations.
Attitudes.
Worries.
The excess brings no benefit. It distracts my focus. It keeps me from following the One Who spilled His blood that I might live.
No more.
It stops here. Now. Today.
