Don't Stop Now!

It was a sultry Saturday, July 2002. Hundreds of onlookers gazed at the
participants in the annual track and field event in Durham, North
Carolina. Parents, friends, and spectators sat under colossal umbrellas
shielding from the blazing sun, while restlessly shifting on the rigid and
uncomfortable aluminum bleachers that surrounded the stadium.

At nine years old, she came running full speed and straight ahead,
leaving everyone else behind while completing her 440-yard race. With arms
outstretched, she crossed the finish line and victoriously walked off
the track exhausted -- and a conqueror. Truly, she was the winner
because everyone else in the race was -- what seemed like miles behind.

Listening for the cheers of family and friends, she heard none. There
were no victory cheers, no clapping, and no smiles. Instead, her
supporters were yelling and motioning for her to keep going, because she had
not won the race. Her race was not complete, because she stopped too
soon! She stopped 12 feet before the official finish line!

Onlookers were stunned. Supporters' heads dropped and then emotions
flared as outcries of disgust and blame rang throughout the stadium toward
the event timers. "You're standing at the wrong line," someone yelled
at the event timer. "You misled her into thinking that you were at the
finish line," someone else shouted.

What had really happened? And, who was really to blame?

The true winner -- or so she thought -- did not complete her race. The
true winner was in fact, not the winner at all.

Perhaps misguided by the event timers standing 12 feet before the
finish line, she stopped, thinking that she had won. In her mind, she was
the winner -- but according to the rules, she was not.

Trailing her, another runner crossed the official finish line and won
the race. Why, because evidently, she knew what the goal was and was not
going to stop until she reached it. She did not allow distractions to
stop her. She did not allow anyone to mislead her. She was not going to
stop until she was indeed the WINNER!

What goals must you reach to be declared the winner in your life? What
distractions must you ignore or get rid of to reach your goals?

Whatever your goals are, it is up to you, and no one else to reach
them. Whatever the distractions are, it is up to you to honestly and wisely
deal with or do away with them.

If you want to live a purposeful and fulfilling life, then wisely and
wholeheartedly do what you must -- but don't stop until you reach them.

Don't stop now!

Copyright 2003 by Audrina Jones Bunton.