The Fifteen Minute Mile

Patience is a virtue.  Patience usually infers that time is involved and lengthy amounts of time at that.

Then there are patients.  People who need healing.

Is it a coincidence that these two seemingly different words are pronounced identically in the English language?

Often times it is not how quickly we reach a goal, but the steps it took to get us there that matter more.  When we wait and go the distance, the finish line is not just a line in the sand.  It is a sculpture in our hearts dividing the time between where and who we were and what we have traveled.  Like a scar left on our skin, healed but never the same.

I've said in the past that you should never compare yourselves to others.  Each person's journey is their own.  Because some people can do a six minute mile, but a marathon is their challenge.  And some squeak out a fifteen minute mile, and their hearts are racing.  The important thing is that you're making the distance.

As you travel your personal journey - physically, spiritually, emotionally - run your own mile or your own marathon.  When it starts to hurt, you will learn to be a patient and gain patience.  Your muscles will ache, your heart will pound, but when you keep pushing you will be stronger.