When I was in high school, our volleyball coach told us that we needed to run a mile five days a week for three weeks as part of our summer “conditioning.”
I despised running.
But I wanted to make my coach proud.
The first week, I ran a mile on five different days and recorded my times.
I was happy to report to my coach that I had met the goal…
But she never asked.
Darn.
The second week, I missed a day, only running 4 days.
But I still recorded my times.
I had my excuse ready to go…
But again, my coach never asked.
The third and final week, I figured she didn’t really care about us running on our own.
So I only ran one day.
She never asked.
And that was it.
Looking back, I realized my only motivation for running was the fact that my coach had asked.
But… I happened to record my mile times in a notebook that I discovered a few years later.
As I looked through my list of mile times, I discovered that I had improved my time every single time that I ran!
I had gotten faster and stronger, and yet all I cared about was what I could “get away with.”
“And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself.”(Helaman 14:30)
When we “cut the corners” on our righteous spiritual habits, we might get away with it.
But we are the ones who have to deal with the eventual temporal and eternal consequences.
“On the straight and narrow path, there are simply no corners to be cut.” – Neal A. Maxwell
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
