I love a great “comeback story.” I love it when the underdog crosses the finish line first. I love “the few” overtaking “the many.” I love when the “down and out” become the “up and coming.”
I love a great comeback story.
I need to believe in comeback stories. We all do.
Having run a few miles on the comeback trail I’ve learned that every comeback trail can be lined with setbacks. It’s not anyone’s fault in particular. It’s just the way the trail winds. Just when you’ve stepped up to the starting line…just when you’ve convinced yourself to give it one more try….just when you thought you had paid your dues and trained your butt off…wham…the setback blues rain on your comeback parade.
And the once beckoning trail becomes thick with felled trees that seem to obliterate the morning light.
Now, here’s the thing….once the setback smacks you in the face…and you truly can’t see the forest – or the trail – for the trees – you have some choices. By the way, one of those choices is not to NOT FEEL THE PAIN. You can deny it. You can repackage it. But you cannot avoid it. Sorry….
However…
1. You can quit.
2. You can fake a season ending injury.
3. You can eat chocolate and drink cheap wine…the perfect food companions.
4. You can catch your breath….check your vitals….and ever so kindly….choose to run one more step and then one more and so on and so on….you get the picture.
5. You can make it to the finish line. You can. Really.
The thing about comebacks and setbacks is that both carry enormous energy and energy is a great thing no matter how you come by it. And none of us can run one step without energy.
The challenge is to be brave…well, really to be gutsy…and simply acknowledge that the exhilaration of running the comeback trail lasted – oh, maybe a moment or two – and then the real running began and it was, at times, brutal. especially if sometimes…the real race wasn’t even fair. I mean, really…where are the referees in life?
BUT…..Setbacks do not define your comeback. They do not. Setbacks do strengthen your legs for the uphill climbs. Setbacks do grow your heart for the high altitudes where the air becomes dangerously thin. And setbacks do make for a greater story.
So, if today finds you gasping for air after an unexpected setback that ambushed you right in the middle of your comeback….catch your breath….assess the damage….reset your pace but not your passion.
And ever so slowly, cautiously begin to move through the thickening woods toward to light; asking what I call the “Holy ask”….so simple really…..
“Abba, what do you have for me in this?”
Amazingly enough…the whisper of that “holy ask” has the power to part the trees just enough to see the light break through…
and that means everything.
Is there a “holy ask” within your comeback run?
Ask away and lean into the light….
