I reflected on this as I ran today, remembering how much I hate pain. I have this far off goal to run a marathon someday, but that’s not easy when you don’t like pain.

Jesus endured the cross, despite all the shame affiliated with it, despite the agonizing spiritual and physical pain it represented. He willingly went forward in the most un-lazy act on earth. He epitomized “just do it.”

He rested, yes. He walked to the rhythm of God the Father’s whispers, slowing when directed, obeying and struggling when told to.

If I stand at the beginning line of a marathon someday, I’m going to be thinking about Jesus. I wonder if He stood in heaven prior to incarnation to this sodden earth and got tired thinking about what He would endure. Whether it tired Him or not, He took the action He was supposed to take in submissive obedience. If He can do such a thing, perhaps we all underestimate His ability to help us endure, to give us joy in the mundane, to act heroically when we’d rather be lazy.