Sweating in Singapore

(This is a re-post from Sister Walker's Facebook page)

Went for a run at 6:30 a.m. and was home by 7:10 a.m. and only ran 4 miles and that wet stuff on my shirt is pure sweat!

I love to run and am grateful that I have good knees. I have noticed however, that I think weird things when I run, like, what if a rock flies out from one of the cars passing by and hits me in the eye or what if a python comes out from one of the bushes where it is dark on my route. That particular thought is a result of a comment one of my friends from Malaysia made who says she occasionally runs over a python; not that there are even any pythons here in Singapore but I have a hard time convincing my mind otherwise!
I'm just grateful that I don't let my fears or the "what if" syndrome keep me from running or from taking some risks in life. I look at some of my greatest blessings in life and what I would have missed out on had I let the what ifs over power the still small voice; Had I said, "What if I spend all that money to have a reverse tubal ligation and it doesn't work, " then I wouldn't have had the surgery and therefore wouldn't have had my 3 youngest children, Marianne, Katelyn and Graham, who have brought so much joy and happiness not only to me but to their older siblings and all the loved ones in their lives.
Had I gone down the what if road and talked myself out of marrying Mike by thinking, "What if he leaves me one day", I would have missed out on being loved by a man that has treated me like I am the Queen of Sheba and who amazes me with his wisdom and patience and understanding and makes me laugh every day.
Not all of my experiences have had happy endings and being human, if I would have known the pain I would have had to go through and if the Lord would have let me take control, I know I would have chosen a life of continual ease, minus any suffering. However, I'm glad He didn't let me take control because all we take with us when we leave this life is who we've become. Those experiences have helped me learn some valuable Christlike attributes such as patience, faith, temperance, forgiveness, charity, etc... I haven't perfected those qualities because I'm still a work in progress, and unfortunately, I may be the age of Methuselah before I get it right. But I don't plan on giving up.
I don't pray for growing experiences but I do ask the Lord to help me trust Him and to keep an eternal perspective when challenges come my way. I love the scripture in Ecclesiastes 9:11: ..'the race goeth not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong'. - However, it does go to him who endures to the end. We can't go around life. We have to go with it. The only choice we have is how we respond. I'm going to end with a familiar poem I was reminded of today (it has the word sweat in it which goes so well with my picture:)
"Stick to your task till it sticks to you.
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too-
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life's victories after awhile." (author unknown)