What do running, home schooling and writing have in common? They’re all painful. I recently tried to explain to a writing friend why I run, because honestly, it’s very painful, on the knees and hips and joints and it’s hard to keep going–nothing like the Energizer bunny. So why do I do it? 

Then it hit me–I really think you’ve got to be called to do certain things, including running. Especially running. It’s not something you can do every day or several times a week unless you have the burning to do it, to feel the pain. Eventually, sure, there’s the endorphin high called the zone–but you have to go through the pain to get there. 🙂

And writing? Definitely you must have the burn in your heart to do it and keep doing it even when you don’t  receive encouragement. How often do people tell you that they, too, have considered writing a book and plan to write it one day. Even if they eventually  manage to carve out time from a busy schedule–difficult enough–I suspect they might not find the tenacity to deal with the pain of writing.  

I’m not going  down the home schooling road with you here–I do that because God has called me to it. It’s painful but I’m beginning to finally reap the rewards and I enjoy the time with my children, especially since so much of it is denied them when I write. 

But I want to get back to what can be learned from running. As painful as it is, if you can learn to reach down deep to keep yourself going, you’ll have the ability to do that in other areas of your life–like writing. Just keep going. Just keep swimming.

Just do it. . .