Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

“When we are running in a race, what are we thinking in our minds to sustain us through the race?”

This was the question that popped into my mind today as I was stoning. Sometimes I think about food… sometimes I think about the awesome sensation of crossing the finishing line… sometimes I just try to shut my mind and not think about anything… but most of the time I tell myself in my mind that “Hey.. I don’t run this far to give up and lose everything!” I am no expert runner, but each time I run, I realised that whenever my mind is filled with alot of thoughts, they become very distracting and I end up not able to complete what I set out to run, or I run really slow and off my usual standard.

Each phase of our lives is like a marathon, we are often running and pushing ourselves to finish the race. Some of us are running the race of our lives in secondary school and JC, battling through with ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels examination; some of us are running the race in university, pursuing a good honors and fighting our way through with the billions of talents around; some of us are running the race of career and family, learning to juggle between these both and stretch ourselves to be the best that we can be. It is never easy running these life races and there are so many things along the way which will cause us to be derailed or throw off course.

My journey of life has brought me through to witness lives being ship wrecked because of pre-maritial sexual relationships, addiction to computer gaming, drugs, smoking and gambling. These may be seemingly behavioral wrong doings, but I believe it goes deeper than that.. It has to do with our values and belief system. And it all begins in the mind. One who is weak in the mind will be easily influenced by the surrounding, environment and things that people say to us.

So what are we filling our minds with daily? Is it with things that will only make us susceptible and vulnerable to falter away and compromise our moral standards? Or with things which will strengthen us and cause us to stand firm for what we believe in? May I quote what the infamous Phua Chu Kang said... "Use Your Blaaain!! Use Your Blaaain!!!" Yes.. despite the broken english.. let's really use our brains to think before compromising ourselves.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

I have found my answer.. have you found yours yet?