The Prize Or The Goal?

Note:  There are only two weeks left in the Transformation Contest for me.  What a journey this has been.  I am working diligently to complete my goals.  Thanks to all of you who have cheered me on and given me so much support and encouragement.  You are awesome!   Today's story is especially for my fellow TC'rs who are making these last laps with me.  We can do this!

Today I heard from a fellow TC’r who told me that several people in the community were calling it quits, giving up on their goals because they didn’t get “the letter” in the mail saying they had be chosen as a finalist in the six week contest.  First of all, it is my understanding that these finalists are simply for the six week mini-contest, not people already chosen as finalists for the grand prize at the end.  We all have to finish these 90 days to have a chance!  So please don’t quit!  That makes me very sad.  

Hearing this today reminded me of a story.  There was a boy who had trained for a race.  He wanted to make his dad proud of him.  Well during the race he took his eyes off the goal for a moment and looked out in the crowd for those eyes that he longed to catch a glimpse of approval in.  When he did, he stumbled over his own feet and came crashing down.  He sat there with one shoe off, cut, scraped, bloody and bruised.  As he looked in the distance ahead - the other runners were long gone.  There was no way to win the race.  Since he could not win the prize and had disappointed his father, he just sat there for a moment drowning in disappointment.  Seeing his son sitting there in defeat, the father stood up and said “Run!  Get up and run!  The race is not over… run!”  The boy stood up.  He knew he had lost too much time and he had to catch up the best he could.  So he left his shoe there in the dust and began running with only one shoe and sock on the other foot!  The crowd began to cheer, they shouted his name.  His dad shouted even louder!  “Run son, run!”  With each lunge forward the boy could feel the scrapes and bruises and pain shooting through his legs, but he could see his fellow runners just a bit closer in the distance, and mostly he felt the ringing of his father’s voice amplified in his ears.  “Atta boy, keep going! Run!”  Finally the finish line was in sight.  The winner of the race had long passed the line and for that matter the last runner had crossed the line as well.  While the awards ceremony was going on honoring the winners of the race with the grand prizes, they were hardly noticed because the crowd’s eyes were fixed on the one lone boy, with the bloody knees and dirty sock sprinting towards the finish line.  He won something so much more than a prize that day, against all odds, he completed what he set out to do; he made his Daddy proud.  He finished the race.  So we still have a few laps left folks.  Let’s do this thing!  Whatever you are aspiring to achieve remember this isn’t just about the prize, it’s about the goal you know?