Good evening!

Hello, God, and thanks for an absolutely beautiful evening.  It's warm and sunny outside, and we're just enjoying the peaceful end to a relaxing day.  I want to thank you for this thing called spring break--it really is a necessary part of the school year.  I believe that I would be able to make it to the end of the year without the break, but it most certainly would be more difficult.

I also want to thank you for the opportunity that I have on Friday to run another 24-hour race.  I know that it isn't something that most people are interested in, but it is something that is a great challenge for me.  In our world these days we don't get too many chances to challenge ourselves well and fully, and this kind of race is  a great chance to do so.

I guess what puzzles me is the timing of my knee starting to give me problems three weeks ago, right before the race.  I was training really well, enjoying myself and building my endurance well, and then the trick knee returns after having been out of my life for many, many years.  I'll still be able to do the run this week, I'm sure, but probably not as effectively as I would have been able to do without a knee issue.

The thing that bothers me the most, though, is that I know that I should be able to focus my thoughts and energies elsewhere so that the knee doesn't bother me much--if at all--but now my mind is caught up in focusing on how the knee is, whether it's about to give me problems or not.  And I know that the more I focus on the knee, the more likely it is for the knee to give me problems.

So I'd like to ask you very clearly for the ability to shift my focus a bit, to be able to look elsewhere and think about other things instead of my knee.  Come what may, I want to do the run and finish it, and I want to do very well in it--so please help me to deal with this issue of my knee in an effective and positive way.  I want to think of other things; I want to stay focused on doing really, really well and not on whether or not my knee is going to be giving me problems.  I know that I can do this, but I would like to have some help with it.    This race represents a great opportunity for me to accomplish something that I'd like to accomplish; I've done all the preparation that I can for it, so please help me with the follow-through.

A reply:

Absolutely. You know that I'm there with you at all times, not just in your times of need, and I'm willing to help you at all times.  Usually, though, you wait until the times of need to ask me for my help, and that tendency is often rather self-defeating.

Give me your knee.  Put it in my care.  Completely and without reservation.  It would be nearly a miracle if you were able to do so--you know this just as well as I do.  But if it is in my hands, then I can contribute to it in positive ways.   If it's out of my hands, well then, guess what?

You are right--not too many people are into that kind of race.  But the fact that you're willing to do it means that you do look past the trappings of the world for challenges that will strengthen your character and help you to learn more about overcoming obstacles, working through difficulties and pain, and going further than you're being called to go.  In your teaching, you see regularly the positive effects of going further than you need to, and you see it in your coaching, too.

While you're out there running and walking, give me your knees for safe-keeping.  Give me your ankles, too, and your heart and lungs and arms and feet. . . everything.  I can't guarantee that everything will go perfectly, that there will be no pain, or that there won't be other issues to deal with.  But I can tell you that when you put things in my hands, things will turn out the way that they're supposed to turn out, even if they aren't the way you expected or wanted them to be.

And have fun--tons of fun--on the run.