Layla, You Got Me On My Knees

I am not Father of the Year material. I have references if you need confirmation.   But I want to let you know of a proud moment in this father's life. My seven-year- old overcame fatigue, muscle pain, stomach cramps and exhaustion to finish a 5K in 39 grinding minutes.  Her little legs pounding the asphalt with every step and her tiny little frame while wanting to quit, but never did.    

We ran the Mercy Ministries 5K this past
weekend at Queeny Park. This cause is close to my heart since it is about girls
13-28 who have endured life's toughest challenges while teaching them ways to
overcome adversity. Just like in a road race.

Layla Weaver did at seven-years-old what some have never done in their whole life.   

It was not easy.  I ran by her side and encouraged her, supported her and
even demanded that she fight the urge to quit and to never give up. 

 I brought out my strongest motivational mantras:

• Pain is just WEAKNESS leaving your body
• You can do this!
• Just make it to the bridge
• Catch the next runner
• Just ONE more HILL
• You can NEVER give up! Not until you've given me EVERYTHING have!  
• You gotta give me MORE!
• And of course the best motivator you can ever say to your little girl, "YOUR BIG SISTER IS CATCHING UP WITH YOU!"  She turns quickly in midstep to survey the competition behind her. 

She played cat and mouse with some boy runners about the same age (probably older) and that was fun for her.  I am grateful for the country we live in.  It is far from perfect.  But girls can do anything boys can do.  

It is the preparatory work that differentiates us and defines us. We have the freedom to choose. The freedom to fight. The freedom to PRESS ON. The choice to pay the price or to quit. To voluntarily endure excruciating pain and come out smiling to a glorious finish line. The second wind is real and so is the third and fourth, but so is the pain and sweat and the tears it takes to get there.

My seven-year-old learned some mind strategies for overcoming adversity when the body wants you to quit. You reach out with your arms pumping and pull the next "marker" closer to you. You pick a focus point and run to that...then the next one, and so on. Your heart and spirit can carry you through when your body wants you to quit. 

You take it one painful but victorious step at a time. You smile and enjoy it because you have NO CHOICE but to endure it. You MUST complete the journey, it is your only purpose and meaning at that point in time.  You may not come in First Place, but that's hardly the only prize out there on "race day."

You can quit in life. You can destroy your own life and someone else's. But why would you?  Unless you've never experienced the exhiliration of victory. Unless you've never left everything you have on the field of battle for your
purpose. Here's a secret: You don't have to win in order to WIN.  But you have to be in the game to even have a shot.  

My daughter, Layla, never has to run another 5K again, I certainly wouldn't want her to do it for me.  But we should all be so lucky to understand what she knows.  That no matter what our circumstances are, no matter how crappy we think they are, we can overcome them, we can run through it and cross the finish line that lies "just over that next hill." 

Whether it be into recovery, out of sickness, out of depression or just into a better picture of your life.  

Let defeat and retreat NEVER be in your words. No matter how bad it gets. May you NEVER SURRENDER. May you ALWAYS be in the race fighting like a seven-year-old trying relentlessly to make her daddy proud. She would've given me everything. And she did, and then some. God is gonna bless that little girl. May God love you enough to give you excruciating pain along with abundant endurance to overcome it. 

Too Blessed to be Stressed,

Kyle D. Weaver

P.S.. My nine-year-old finished the 5K as well, but strained an ego at mile two and finished walking. 

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