Sunday, January 2, 2011

What Are Your Goals?

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another." -- John Dewey

I've done 21 marathons and I'm on the road to do 29 more when I turn 50 years old.  That's my 50 by 50 goal.  A friend of mine teased me and asked why not just do one marathon a month.  I replied, "That will be my goal after 50."

It's a lifestyle now.  I do it for my health and to keep me motivated.  The number of marathons is just a goal but arriving at it is just as motivating and exciting for me.  Hence, for every race I do, my last step on the finish line is also the first step of my training for the next.

Lately I also set a spiritual goal for myself.  However, my spiritual goal is written differently than a running goal which is quantifiable.  It is phrased in form of a prayer.  It is a prayer that I think will help me become more aware of God's presence and His work in everything in my life.  "Lord, increase my faith and protect me from all anxieties.  I offer all my works, joys, and sufferings for the day.  Amen."  This goal is my direction, my desire, my prayer.  I may never arrive at its full completion, but I will strive to attain it everyday.

When you think about your running or exercise goals, think about your heart's desire as well.  Take a moment to pray over it and ask God to lead you towards your spiritual goal.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

What's Your Time?

It's not uncommon among runners to ask about their finish time in a race.  First time runners, sophomore runners, veteran runners - they all ask that question unabashedly.  However, there are some runners who don't ask and those who don't answer truthfully. The business of asking and answering this question is really a matter of your comfort level.  I think that it's better not to ask especially to somebody you don't know too well; but when asked and you don't want to answer directly, you can say something like, "My time was better than last year's." My favorite one is to simply say, "I really had a great time!"

Time is very important to runners.  First, they need to make time during their busy day for running.  Then when running, they are keeping time all the time.  After running, they record their time.  Long after the run, they remember the time.  But time is also important to non-runners.  They go about life dictated by time, especially in urban parts of the world.  This time is human time or "chronos".  It is the other meaning of time in Greek which means chronological time.  It's time that measures a duration of an event.  There is however, another meaning of time.  In Greek, it is called "kairos".  It is that undetermined period of time when something special happens. It differs from "chronos" which is quantitativee time.  "Kairos" refers to the qualitative form of time.  In the Bible, it is God's time.