I ran a half marathon this morning, and I had a Tinkerbell Band-Aid on my leg where I cut myself shaving yesterday. (Yes, I still manage to nick myself almost every single time.) I've run with Band-Aids on my legs before (obviously, if I cut myself so often), so I didn't really think much of it.
Until about mile 11 or so.
It was at this point that Tinkerbell decided it was time to try flying. The Band-Aid came loose on one side and started flapping. I didn't really care that I was losing a Band-Aid (I mean, I love Tink and all, but we really weren't that close), but do you know how annoying a flapping Band-Aid is during a race, especially when it's getting pretty hot out there, and you are only about two miles from the finish? If you don't, please just take my word for it. It's VERY annoying.
Sure, I could have just reached down and torn it completely off, but that would just involve too much work. I'm too lazy and just really didn't feel like extending my arm that far down. So I just tried to ignore it and focus on the fact that my pace was really starting to suck, and I needed to pick it up.
Sure enough, I forgot about the Band-Aid altogether. What I didn't even notice was the strangeness that occurred.
Now that's perseverance. |
After the race, while I was sitting on a curb, my friend asked me how that Band-Aid had managed to stay on my leg during the race and not come off because of sweat. I looked down and noticed that the Band-Aid was back in perfect position and didn't appear as if it had ever been flapping away in the wind. It was rather peculiar, actually, and I have no idea how it returned to that state, seeing as how I had not touched it and had really just assumed it flew all the way off toward the end of the race.
It's amazing what a Band-Aid can teach us.
There are certainly going to be times in life where we start flapping away, so to speak, and we feel as if we are on the verge of losing grip and failing. But there is always going to be that hope—no matter how slight—that can keep us hanging on and get us back on solid feet. Somehow and some way, miraculously, we can fall perfectly into place where we should be, just like my Tinkerbell Band-Aid.
I'm incredibly thankful for the simple things that God gives us in life—like Band-Aids that just won't give up the fight.