MOTIVATING....(UNAWARE)!

As part of the daily grind,  I was at the YMCA this morning.  I was getting ready to go into my intervals class when Heather, a regular in the class and at the Y, pulls me to the side and says she wants to share something with me.  She starts by saying that she was on the treadmill behind me yesterday morning while I was running.  She said she heard Amy, our instructor for today's class, come up to me and say, "how far are you going?".  Heather then says when she heard me say 4 miles, she looked down at the panel on her treadmill, saw 2 miles and shook her head.  In that moment, she says she decided she had to at least do 3 miles.  I started telling her how I was "in training" for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4th.  I tell her it's a 10K and that my training schedule has me getting up to 4.5 miles this week.  I then smile and say to her,  "I'm glad I could motivate you to do more!"  As we near the end of our chat, someone else walks up to me and she heads into the bathroom before class.  It was such a fast exchange.  It was so fast, in fact, that the details could have gone unnoticed if I wasn't always looking for God and good in situations.  For the sake of background, Heather is certainly smaller than me (not necessarily more fit), is active at the Y and does some running.  Now, I learned many races ago that endurance varies from person to person.  YOU can be a lesson or a blessing to almost anyone, so don't sell yourself short.  I also learned that while I'm trying to keep up with someone in front of me, someone behind me is trying to keep up with me.  Set your standard and help raise the standard of someone else. And, one of the biggest lessons I've learned over the years as a would be runner is....I have to run my race.  If I do that, then it's easier to be at my best and possibly inspire or motivate someone else to do the same. 

^{Mark 4: 35-36} That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”        Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  
 
This passage is after Jesus has been teaching and telling parables to such a large crowd that he had to be in a boat while everyone sat along the shore.  Then, when he was done working hard at teaching, he decided to go with his disciples, his inner circle, and get some down time.  Well, he wasn't able to do that without other boats following.  Jesus had such a draw and attitude and message to the point that people wanted to be around him.  So it is with many of us. I think the difference is that Jesus knew his purpose and was intentional.  We should all live with purpose and intention.  We are being followed...in our homes by our kids and even spouses, on our jobs, in our organizations and even at the Y. Be worth following!


EXPECT MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER THINK OR IMAGINE!