One of my closest friends knows me better than I know myself. She signed up to do the marathon in Hartford tomorrow and encouraged me to do my 20 mile run beside her and have another friend finish the marathon relay and complete the last 6.2 miles.

Everything about this process overwhelmed me and I delayed signing up for weeks.

Yet that is precisely why my friend said doing this would benefit me - I could the take tomorrow as a trial run of being in a race setting before NYC.

I share this with you as a reminder that the people beside us who know us well, may say something like “sign up for a marathon relay” to which our initial reaction is “nope.”

Yet when the people we love and who love us say something, it’s important we take time to listen, and ask ourselves, “Are they speaking truth to us? Does what they say have our best interest at heart?” If so, maybe we need to pause before reacting and consider their suggestion, as I did.

If you can be quick to speak or react from an emotional state like I can at times, invite you to join me to…

pause. breathe. pray.

May we know our “iron sharpens iron, friends who love at all times” friends. And when they speak to us, even things we don’t want to hear, may we be willing to be quick to listen and slow to speak. For our initial reaction may not be the response aligned with what is best for us in the long run, like this experience I pray is for me tomorrow.

With love and hope,
Shawn