There's Hope For TodaySample

I’ll never forget the midpoint in my first marathon. Everything was slowing down. I didn’t see how I could possibly run another thirteen miles. In those moments I wanted to quit.

The middle miles are often the toughest, whether we’re talking about a marathon, a marriage, an education, or life itself. The start creates its own excitement. Beginning and hope run lockstep. It’s in the middle miles that we suddenly question our resolve. It’s in the middle miles that many a marriage is lost. In the bright blush of the honeymoon or the afterglow of the diamond anniversary, we find a stability that disappears in the middle miles. In the middle miles, it’s tough to see where we started, and tougher to see where we might finish.

It’s a good thing I had a running partner through the middle miles. We reminded each other of all the hard training miles. In the middle miles you have to generate a little excitement. In the middle miles you have to work up your own enthusiasms. In the middle miles you need to remember the calling, the quest, the goals, the dream.

Keep going, whatever you do; keep going through the middle miles. There’s a celebration waiting, just around the corner.