I’m training for a half marathon now, so several scriptures about running are particularly relatable:
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
Ecclesiastes 9:11
From the context, the Preacher appears to be delivering a sobering message: Just because you’re capable doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. President Thomas S. Monson quoted this passage more than once, giving it a more reassuring interpretion: “Actually,” he added, “the prize belongs to him or her who endures to the end” (“The Race of Life,” General Conference, April 2012; see also “An Invitation to Exaltation,” General Conference, April 1988). It’s not about being strong or fast. It’s about being consistent and resolute.
King Benjamin provided the following counsel:
See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
Mosiah 4:27
As I’m training, I have to make judgment calls. Am I pushing myself too little or too much? If I go a little faster, will I be able to finish? Or is it better to go a little slower and make it to the finish line?
The apostle Paul emphasizes the importance of finishing in his first letter to the Corinthians:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1 Corinthians 9:24
And in his epistle to the Hebrews, he wrote:
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1
At the end of his life, Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy:
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8
Ultimately, our goal is to finish. So we need to keep going, we need to pace ourselves, we need to set aside unnecessary burdens, and we need to keep our eye on the goal.
President Monson reminded us of the importance of being “finishers.” One day, as he walked past a furniture store in Salt Lake City, he noticed a sign that said, “Finishers wanted.” Even though he understood the meaning of the sign, he began to think about its broader significance:
In life, as in business, there has always been a need for those persons who could be called finishers. Their ranks are few, their opportunities many, their contributions great….
I pray humbly that each one of us may be a finisher in the race of life and thus qualify for that precious prize: eternal life with our Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom.
“Finishers Wanted,” General Conference, April 1972
Today, I will keep running the race that is set before me. I will pace myself. I will remove distractions. I will keep my eye on the prize. I will be a finisher.