Up From the Dumps

A few weeks ago, Jeff ran a 17.5 mile race. He’s my hero. 🙂 On the other hand, I was eating an apple hand pie and drinking a coffee, seated in a chair on the side of a soccer field. When we met up back at home, he gave me the “rundown” of his race. 😉

In the last leg of the race, the trail takes you to a steep ascent with a series of ladders. At this point, you have pasta legs, and it’s a battle of your will vs. your weakness. As he stood there catching his breath, a woman ran up alongside of him and stopped, looking up at the imposing ladders. “I don’t think there’s any way I can lift my legs to climb that,” she confessed.

“What did you tell her?!?!?” I wanted to know. I LOVE a good story!  🙂


“We’re at the end. You HAVE to keep going!” And they did. He has a corny sweatshirt to show for it. 🙂

Not too long ago, I said something similar to my runner hubby. “I’m feeling like I’m sliding into a funk.” And I began noticing that a lot of the women around me were also dealing with a sense of discouragement. I heard it in their conversations and in their status updates and prayer requests.  I saw it in their eyes and in their “pasta legs.”  I recognized it, because I know how it feels, too.  It may last a short while, or it may last long, but it’s that overwhelming feeling that you can NOT lift your legs to get up the ladder. Truth is, a corny sweatshirt is NOT enough motivation to get out of the dumps.  Everyone “goes there” sometimes, but we don’t want to stay there.

It’s true: we have to keep going; there is a “finish line” awaiting us. So that’s what I want to spend the rest of October on. Getting “Up From the Dumps,” battling discouragement. Think about what weighs heavily on you:  extended family, health issues, trouble with children, pain in the church, finances, stuff to maintain, expectations in relationships, unrealized dreams, unemployment, world news … There is hope and help to get up the ladder. This October, let’s get “Up From the Dumps” together!

What’s weighing on you?