Stay the course. Pursue the goal. Run the race.

Have you ever worked really hard on a project, I mean 24-7 focused-on-the-task kind of hard, and then it tanks . . . bombs . . . plain-old-fashioned-fails?  No matter how hard you try to make it work, it doesn't.  And, at some point you give it up because you should.  I think of myself as a get-it-done type of person, the kind of person that appreciates a completed task, a crossed-off item on the to-do-list, and the feeling of accomplishment. But.  When something doesn't work, it is at least annoying and at most maddening.

Even when I am at my busiest, a job well-done is worth the effort, including the extra blood, sweat and tears that I give in order to complete the job. What’s challenging, is managing the times when things don't work.  So. It brings up a conversation with a few questions. What is true success?  What is true failure?  And, why, is either important?

Years ago, one elderly woman answered the question.  

She told me what I did was not necessarily important or would be what would last or really matter, but how I did it and, if, I stayed the course.  

Her words have never left me and continue to mess with me.  The thing is . . . she made the comment from her home, a run-down-old-nursing-home in a musty old room, that had nothing of value in it, but her.  In a few words, she taught me a lasting life principle.  What she said held value, as it was clear to me that from the outside, considering where she was at, people may have thought she had not succeeded at life.  But.  On the inside of those crumbling walls, she was impacting people, including me.  She stayed the course.

In the context of a military battle, to stay the course means to continue to pursue the goal regardless of the obstacles.  To stay the course, as my friend did, we need to be mindful of the ultimate goal. 

Consider.

I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message)

The Apostle Paul, who wrote Philippians, was known to be relentless.  Not everything went the way it was planned,  but he stayed the course, pursuing the goal put in front of him.   He explained it in his letter to the early church in Corinth:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, NIV).  

You can face anything today through the all-surpassing power of God and move forward despite the obstacles.
Stay the course.  Pursue the goal. Run the race.

Learning to Kickstart the day staying the course, pursuing the goal, running the race.
Kerrie

(written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)