greatness part 2

ten thousand meters.
that is the distance from my house to my workplace. my house to my church. a distance that i drive in my car on a regular basis. and i wouldn't do it any other way.

not always so for some others.

that is a distance far enough for pain, heavy breathing, and needing sheer will just to push forward. at least for me.

there's a competitive spirit in all of us, some more and some less. the fine line between the two may simply be a  willingness to try.

who doesn't like glory? the story of the young and inexperienced, training and fighting against all odds, but through the barrage of trials, comes out all the stronger, the wiser, and the greater. it's so great a story that we are all drawn to it.

can't we just be trying to get from A to B?

getting something done doesn't make you great. if we try to give ourselves glory, the real reason for that is because we are selfish. and it took me so long to realize that greatness isn't from what you do. what you do IS great, but it does not make you great. and so all the status, class, and your material things that were gained by what you do, also does not make you great.

i understand now. the allure of human greatness, all the arrows pointing to their heart and soul, fully on display for the world to see and hear. why do we want to earn our way to greatness? because we are selfish. and everyone else earning their way to greatness is doing it because they are doing it for themselves.

but maybe that's what exactly they are doing, just getting A to B. and the training and the fighting, minus the glory. and just like myself, they are just trying to get there. they desire the humility of their rawness and the journey to refinement. just trying to get by.

so really, there is no earning greatness. for those of you who may think so, get it out of your head (including me). God, the truly unselfish one, is the only one that is great.

took me a darn year to figure this out.


to all my friends who ran the 10k run. congratulations! you worked hard and trained hard and i probably couldn't do it half as well as you. you are all pretty great.