When I’m out for a run, the hardest moment comes when I’ve been running up a hill for, oh, way too long, and I just can’t go any further.

I’m 3 feet from the crest of the hill.

And I walk.

I know better. I was almost there! But I just couldn’t push myself one step further.

My high school cross-country coach used to hollar about running “through” the entire hill… over the crest and on.

He’d train us: we’d run hill after hill after hill. The whole point was to get up and over that hill, running all the way through.

On a good day, all it takes is a little endurance, and – ah – I’m up and over that hill… suddenly the legs loosen up, the heart rejoices, and the run succeeds.

So I find myself needing to run some hills regarding servanthood.

I can sprint through a whole day, serving, serving, serving (you know how it is, moms). A smile, some energy, a gentle heart.

And then, ugh.

I’m 3 feet from the crest of the hill.

And I just can’t take it any more. I stop short.

I lose patience.

Need time alone.

I demand affirmation from my husband, my kids, ANYbody.

And I never crest the hill.

The tragedy is that cresting the hill is what servanthood is all about.

I can serve, serve, serve with a smile on my face and a cute apron around my waist, but if I turn around and hand my family a bill, I turn my offering into hired-help.

Never demanding paybacks or praise is what makes servanthood, servanthood!

So, I look with eager eyes to the Servant of All, and ask, “Father, strengthen me with endurance, so that I may do Your will with zeal and diligence, and that I might not quit pursuing the deep things of God… Direct my heart into the patience, or endurance in which Jesus walked. Give me strength to follow through in my commitments to You and to fulfill my ministry calling when it is difficult.” (prayer from Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man)

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