Endurance

Growing older is never easy and it can be challenging.

We all experience ebbs and flows.

Suffering, hardship, trials, adversity are obstacles that will visit all of us in our lifetime.

The scriptures teach us that there must be opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:11).

It is just a matter of not if, but when, these tests arrive.

Subsequently, how we respond to life’s difficulties is a matter of individual choice.

For many, challenges can come every day.

I marvel at the endurance of long-distance runners.

Family, friends and coaches, ensure they do not endure alone.

Over many years of training and exercise runners develop physical speed, strength and stamina to endure.

Stamina is staying power or enduring strength.

For example, you don’t just decide to run a marathon.

Runners must train daily, and slowly build stamina to endure the 26.2-mile distance.

And so, it is with life.

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Beginners are many, but enders are few.

Honour, power, place and praise

Will always come to the one who stays.

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life’s victories after a while.

—Author Unknown

We learn to endure by fulfilling our responsibilities and not quitting when things get tough.

Endurance is one of the greatest challenges in life, but it can also be one of our greatest accomplishments.

Just like a runners coach, we all have a shared responsibility to lift and help others to endure, through a simple conversation, a listening ear, a cheerful smile, or words of encouragement.

Do I use hardships as an excuse to withdraw from life, or as a reminder to help someone else in need?