Eyes On the Goal

I got up this morning to beautiful azure skies with wispy white clouds and knew I should go for my walk. It was still a bit chilly, in fact there was still frost in some places. But I pulled out my heavier coat, turned on my MP3 player and headed out.

My usual walk is a 2.1 mile route that includes two good (steep) hills, one in the first half of the walk and the second one in the second half. Normally, when I do my walk on weekdays at the end of a full day at work, I'm a little tired so I choose to turn off the second hill about half way up and continue on through the neighborhood. But, once I am back in shape after doing a less rigorous winter walking schedule, I like to try to go all the way to the top of this hill, especially on the weekends when I'm out walking first thing in the morning.

This morning I was so invigorated by the brisk air and as I approached the turn that would bring me to the second hill, I decided that I was going to take it all the way to the top. Sounded really good as I started up, but after going a little way, I thought that maybe I should give myself one more week of walking before doing that. No! Keep going. But then as I got closer to the side street where I could turn off the hill, my eyes glanced in that direction. At that moment, it was like I heard a voice saying, "Don't look over there; that's not your goal. If you're aiming for the top, keep looking up there!"

In all honesty, walking to the top of the hill instead of turning off earlier wasn't that big a deal. It certainly felt good to have done it even though I was really out of breath. But the best thing about my walk this morning was that little lesson I heard...that reminder that if I'm ever going to accomplish a goal, I can't afford to be distracted. I can't listen to the voices- wherever they may come from-that encourage me to stop short, to take the easy way, to simply give up because it is hard. It's all about where I fix my eyes. And when my eyes are fixed on the goal, I won't even see those tempting shortcuts.

In this life, we will constantly be bombarded with messages that diminish and distract us from the goals in our lives. And some times, we will give in to them. But it feels so good when we stay strong, when we remain focused and achieve those things, large or small, that we set out to do.