Life Marathon

I'm preparing for a marathon! Not a running, walking 26.2 miles marathon but a 'finishing all things well' marathon. God has been preparing me for some time. I don't think I recognized what he was doing.

It's not as catchy as biking Imogene Pass or hiking the Continental Divide Trail or running the Trans-American or rowing the Atlantic Ocean. I won't bring in money for a great cause or stir awareness to a grave condition, though for sure, those things are attached to this challenge. For me finishing well is a worthy goal. I do have a bucket list -a very few may know what is on it- but finishing well was never on that list. 'Finishing well' sounds so negative -so final. But recently I've begun to think about what it would mean to finish well. Paul said he had run his race and finished his course and that there was a crown (to us that would equal a trophy or medal) awaiting. So what does it look like for Donna to finish well?

I have RA. My skin breaks out and get crusty patches, my veins break and bleed under or through the skin, my joints ache and stiffen and some show signs of deformity at times. My heart races at times though most of the time I have low blood pressure and low blood sugar. Some things don't work like they have and should sometimes. Walking up stairs can be grueling; walking down stairs can be catastrophic. According to the doctors, RA doesn't go away. You live with it. I know doctors are not God; that's been so evident in my life from childhood to this year. I respect the doctors for their training and ethic, but I trust my God for my life, health and eternity.

So what about RA. I've asked for healing, but as yet I'm still dealing with it, but I have decided not to let it define me. So what will define me? My answer is part of Donna finishing well. Faith first; wisdom second; discipline third.

Faith:I will ask again for healing, knowing that my God can blink his eyes and take this away in less than a breath. But the greater faith comes when it's not gone and I still know with all that is in me that God is faithful to me and that his love for me is beyond comprehension.

Wisdom: God created this earth and this body in wisdom. If I ignore the wisdom he used in creation and in establishing the physical world, I cannot expect success in living well or finishing well. Wisdom takes some research and a mind to receive it. Some will ignore wisdom because of their own idea of enjoyment. Over indulgence in eating, lack of exercise, lack of sunshine and fresh air, not allowing enough time to rest or relax, not drinking enough pure water, excess in chemicals and alcohol, excess of sugar, all these are a willful discarding of wisdom and in time bring physical consequence.

Discipline: Once I know what is good, agreeing that it is good and practicing good as a life style is discipline. Discipline is a house built on a firm foundation. Sometimes discipline requires behaving and thinking creatively. While suffering with the spider bite last year, I could not exercise normally, but through creative thinking I began water exercises that increased my heart rate, lung capacity and overall body strength while not making the injury to the leg worse: discipline applied through wisdom.

The truth is even if my Father saw my faith and healed my body of the RA, I would need faith, wisdom and discipline to finish well. Faith knows my God is real and personal. Faith sees that he is able and full of grace. Faith realizes that God's love will always do the best for me whether I concur or not.

Wisdom is the greater part of intuition and knowledge together. Wisdom learns all it can about the situation I am in. Wisdom is defensive driving, eyes and mind open to what is going on around me. Wisdom is knowing when to act, how to act, when to speak, how to speak. Wisdom is intuitive in buying and knowledgeable about products and prices. Wisdom is turning it up, turning it off, listening to the small voice inside.

Discipline is getting up to see the sunrise. Discipline is praising when I am down and gratitude when I feel need. Discipline is completing the task when I am tired and exercising when I want to zone out. Discipline is reading the Bible because I have one. Discipline is stopping to listen to the voice of wisdom before making decisions. Discipline is keeping

promises and appointments. Discipline is preparing lessons for my students and resourcing them before hand.

I watched a movie recently about a runner. He was facing heath issues and disability but completed an ultra-marathon against all odds. For me, preparing to run this marathon and finish well means a change of focus: fear to faith, a change of input: want to wisdom, and a change of action: dysfunction to discipline. Each day is one more day in my marathon which ends when I stand before my Father to receive my crown-medal-trophy and hear him say “Welcome! Well done.”