Different Paths Lead to Similar Goals

Yesterday I ventured to Piedmont Park for my first walk of the spring. I am on this new fitness goal to lose weight and become a runner. As I was in the park, I really began to take notice of what was going on around me. There were the young, the young at heart, runners, walkers, boot-campers, men, women and children. Everyone was doing some type of physical activity.

As I continued walking, the Spirit provided me clarity on what I was to learn from this scenery. Though each person was at a different level of experience and on a different path, they were all working towards a similar goal - weight loss/management, physical fitness and/or enjoying the day. Though this was a natural activity, there was a spiritual revelation involved.

Oftentimes, we can develop a defeated attitude because we see others attaining rewards that we hope to receive and become frustrated because we have not gotten there. We may want to have a better marriage, better health, career aspirations or even fitness goals. No matter the goal, we all know people who are farther along on the journey than we are. We may feel as if we may not get there or we don't have what it takes to get there.

We must learn to appreciate where we are on "our" journey. God has given us all a path we must take towards our destiny. However, we cannot become jealous or envious of someone else. Instead we can use those persons as examples to motivate us to continue pushing, continue striving to get to the goal. We all must start somewhere and we all must finish our race the way we are intended to. We cannot successfully attain anything by being someone else. As we all consider the things we are trying to accomplish, we need to take a moment to celebrate ourselves and know that with hard work, perseverance and determination, along with God's help, we will get to the goal if we do not faint, quit or give up.

I will no longer allow myself to beat up on myself because I do not do something like someone else. I will not allow others to make me feel inferior because I may be just starting on something they have been doing for a while. I will continue to work on my dreams and goals until I achieve them. I will celebrate my journey and know that the rewards will be all the more worthwhile because I stayed in the race and I finished my course to my destiny.

Enjoy "your" journey! You will get there in the end!