Win the race!

"Quit, give up you're beaten",
they shout at me and plead
"There's just too much against you now,
this time you can't succeed."

And as I start to hang my head
in front of failures face
My downward fall is broken,
by memory of a race
And hope refills my weakened will
as I recall that scene
For just the thought of that short race
rejuvenates my being

A child's race, young men, boys
How I remember well
Excitement sure - but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win the race
Or tie for first, or if not that
At least take 2nd place

And fathers watch from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one

The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes on fire
To win, to be the hero there
Was each boy's desire

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running in the lead and thought -
my dad will be so proud

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought he'd win
Lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself,
his hands flew out to brace
Amid the laughter of the crowd,
he fell flat on his face

So down he fell and with him hope
He couldn't win - not now
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow
But as he fell his dad stood up, and showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said - get up and win the race

He quickly rose no damage done,
Behind a bit that's all
And ran with all his might and mind,
To make up for his clumsy fall

So anxious to restore himself,
to catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs -
he slipped and fell again

He wished then he had quit before -
with only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now,
I shouldn't try to race."
But in the laughing crowd he searched,
and found his father's face
That steady look that said:
"Get up, and win the race."

So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last
"If I'm going to gain those yards,
I've got to move real fast"
Exerting every thing he had,
he regained eight or ten
But trying so hard to catch the lead,
he slipped and fell again
Defeat

He lay there silently,
a tear dropped from his eye
"There's no sense in running any more -
3 strikes - I'm out - why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared,
all hope had fled away
So far behind, so error-prone,
I'll never go all the way
I've lost

"So what's the use", he thought,
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad,
who soon he'd have to face

"Get up!" the echo sounded low,
"get up and take your place
You were not meant for failure here,
get up and win the race"

With borrowed will, get up it said
You haven't lost at all
For winning is no more than this
To rise each time you fall

So up he rose to run once more
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose the race
At least he wouldn't quit

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling
Three times he rose again
And now he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high and proud and happy -
No failing, no falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster crossed the line - last place
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud
You would have thought he won the race
To listen to the crowd

And to his dad, he sadly said:
"I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," his father said.
"You rose each time you fell"

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face
The memory of that little boy, helps me in my race
For all of life is like that race
With ups and downs and all
And all you have to do to win -
is rise each time you fall

"Quit, give up, you're beaten,"
they still shout in my face
But another voice within me says:
"Get up and win the race!"

5 scriptures that will help you get through almost anything. By John Bytheway