Are you a runner? If not, what’s something you do that isn’t always fun in the moment, but always feels worth it?

I’ve enjoyed (well, mostly…) running ever since I did my first 5K with my little sister’s Girls on the Run group when I was 12 or 13.

Her group trained for months to work up to the big day, a race our whole family got to do together. I enjoyed bussing over to the elementary school and joining them for training when I could.

Sometimes, we’d jog. Other times, we’d walk. Girls of all backgrounds and experience levels moved together at whatever pace worked for them, and throughout the practice, the volunteers also led the girls in activities and discussions to foster positive body images and healthy relationships.

Girls as young as 7 were reminded daily of their worth, their strength, their intelligence, and their kindness. Even to my middle school ears, conditioned to resist some of the exercises as cheesy, the constant reminders encouraged me in a season of life where other people’s voices, and my own inner critic’s, could ring loud, and often unkind.

Not to mention the effect that training consistently had on me! By the end, we all ran or walked the 5k, and that planted the seed for me to later run 3 years of cross country in high school and eventually 7 half marathons (and counting!).

I wish I could say I’ve been a consistent, diligent runner since the beginning, but the truth is that my training has often been sporadic. I’ve injured my knees, shins, and hips from huge spikes and dips in my training rhythms and often trying to go from zero to hero in way too short of a timeframe.

Thankfully, as I’ve turned the corner on a new decade (somehow nearing 20 years since my first race, which feels impossible to fathom…), I’ve learned the wisdom in consistency over random bursts, even if short stints of high effort seems to work at first (and honestly usually feels like a bigger win in the short-term).

Lately I’ve been half-joking that I only go after “MVGs”, or minimum-viable-goals, right now.

I start by asking myself, “What is the very least possible action I could take towards this goal every day?” and then start doing that.

I won’t claim to have invented this (there are dozens of books on how to form and keep good habits…), but I have really enjoyed the freedom and energy this has unlocked towards my goals.

In December, for example, I set my goal to go to the gym for 15 minutes a day, every day. Walking just a few minutes on the treadmill “counted” for my workout if that’s what I was feeling that day, but 95% of the time, I ended up staying much longer than that.

I ended up missing a few days, but rather than beat myself up for not hitting 100% of my goal, I realized I had worked out at the gym more than 25 times in one month, an astronomically higher level than any previous month for me!

I realized that developing the muscle of discipline and endurance is much more important (to me, at least!) and will carry me farther in the long run than trying to achieve a temporary fitness level at the risk of burning out and getting hurt.

I think this mindset can apply to our spiritual lives, too. In the Bible, Hebrews 12: 1-3 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

You know what sticks out to me in this call to endure and run the race with perseverance? Two things: one, the cloud of witnesses we are surrounded by on this journey, and two, the invitation to fix our eyes on Jesus, who fixed his eyes on the joy set before him, and not the pain.

My most consistent running training and fastest races have always been with teammates and friends, not on my solo runs. We were meant to run this life, this faith journey together. Just like the Girls on the Run volunteers, cheering us on to keep going and blasting the truth about girls’ worth on repeat, we can encourage and remind other Wildflowers of their inherent incredible worth and value and strength and intelligence and kindness, of how deeply they are loved. When life gets tough, and it is so easy to focus on how much the present mile hurts- be it a loss of a loved one or a job, financial stress, relationship brokenness, or something else- we can help remind each other to look ahead; to think about Jesus being right there in it with us, and to that race day joy of someday when we stand face-to-face with God, freed from all the painful and broken parts of the world.

Until then, I hope that as you run, you can find some wildflowers to remind you that the Lord is already right here with you, and some fellow Wildflowers to run this race alongside you.

May we all grow at our own paces.