Where I walk and pray is in the country, from my neighborhood through a wildlife management area.

So, this morning as I prayed for my son, I thought about a time several years ago when I challenged him to a race or vice versa. We started with the goal of going about three miles. About a mile into it he had a huge lead because he took off very fast, but about the two-mile mark I was passing him and the rest is history. If he would have paced himself the outcome could have been different. I was like the tortoise and he like the hare, in a sense.

There are some people who live their spiritual lives like this; they start on fire wanting to do everything and be everything. But it doesn’t take long to burn out and discouragement sets in.

Hebrews 12 says, “run with perseverance the race marked out for us”. Some people think wrongly with finances; they invest hoping to make a lot of money in a short time instead of letting their money grow over time.

The writer of Proverbs addresses this in chapter 21 and verse 5 where he says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty”. I like how the Living Bible puts it, “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty”.

Some hurry into a serious relationship without time to get to know the other person and many times this ends up in tragedy.

So, as you approach any area of life, are you living like the tortoise or are you living like the hare? The good news is if you need to change you can, and there is no better time than today.