They say that trials produce endurance.
I laugh. Endurance?
I used to run endurance style races. Marathons. Ultra-Marathons. I enjoyed running. I liked running long distances even more.
Running was therapeutic. All I had to do was put one foot in front of the other. The oxygen flowed to my lungs. The blood coursed through my muscles. It was euphoric. It is called a runner’s high for a reason. Intoxicating.
The more I ran the better I became at running. The longer I ran the further I could run. My endurance improved. This, of course, is what I wanted since I enjoyed running so much.
When I think of trials producing endurance, I don’t have these same thoughts or feelings. I mean, I can think of going on a long-distance run and I get excited. Yes! Let’s go do it.
Trials? Not so much. If trials are what produces endurance, I don’t want anything to do with them. No excitement created at the thought of having to deal with a difficulty or problem.
“You’ll get better.” They say. “Your endurance in life will improve.”
Yeah…I’ll pass. I am not trying to improve my endurance in handling struggles. I am trying to avoid them at all costs. Don’t want them. Don’t need them. Like the guy with the bumper sticker revealing he has run “0.0 miles”, that’s me with trials. I prefer to have 0.0 trials.
Sure, trials are going to come. I know that. After living a half-a-century, twenty-two years in the military, raising three kids, six grandchildren, married for thirty-four years, trials are coming. Been there, done that, certain I will do it again.
But I just don’t feel like it is a race or even something I should be trying to get better at. I know I will get better each time I have to endure a trial. But I am not signing up anywhere or getting in line to have a trial.
