Uphill Battle

 Last week I ran a 6-mile run in preparation for a race that we are doing in the Fall.  Running in Salt Lake can be a challenge sometimes.  It seems hard to find a balanced route.  There are a lot of areas with stoplights at each block, areas that are only flat, and areas that have very steep hills.  And I mean steep.  So sometimes it can be challenging to create a route that has a good challenge without being ridiculously discouraging.  So during this particular run, Staci (Josh’s sister) and I ran uphill in increments.  We ran a couple of blocks on flat ground and then we would take on a steep hill.  Then flat ground and then a hill.  Get the picture?  We continued that pattern for quite a while and then we made our way back down to our final destination. 

After finishing the uphill portion of our run, I was embracing the relaxed feeling of running on flat ground.  We had just conquered the hardest part and I had quite the feeling of accomplishment.  Just as I had that feeling, we ran past a few runners heading the other direction.  I remember thinking to myself that those people had no idea what we had just gone through to get to where we were at that moment.  In order to get to that street, we had to journey through several tough spots.  At times I did not think I could go on. 

While I thought about this concept, I realized that this is a lot like our own lives sometimes.  Our Father in Heaven prepares us for Higher Grounds.  But in order to reach our potential, we have to climb some hills to get there, even mountains sometimes.  We make it through the trials and reach a flat surface or a place to rest.  And then someone comes our way, not knowing what hills or hardships we had to go through to get to that point.  Do you worry that they just won’t understand you?  They just don’t know what you’ve gone through or what it's really like... right?  It reminded me of a quote that says, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”  We may not know what battles people are fighting, but we DO know how to be kind.