Creed II Going the Distance

Creed II is coming this fall; as with all Rocky stories, it's about overcoming obstacles, going the distance. Fundamentally, that is the element of story itself: a character who wants something, endures hardships, and overcomes obstacles to achieve that thing. The fact of the matter is that life is story. We are all of us living a story--living stories. Where we get tripped up is that we often delude ourselves into the belief that life is a movie about moi.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I don't want to speak for you, but in my life those times when I think I'm entitled to this, that, or the other thing--that life owes me--are generally the darkest, bleakest days. Not to say that there's not such a thing a healthy belief in one's self, one's abilities, but rather that this requires an honest, humble assessment.

And it doesn't happen in a vacuum. I, we, need others around to: encourage, rebuke, guide, cheer. Often we have to get out our own way to hear just what others have to say. I mean it's true in life, and it's true in the Rocky films. Rocky wouldn't be the Rocky we've all come to know and love without: Mickey, Apollo, Adrian, Paulie, and now Creed. And Creed wouldn't be who he is without Rocky by his side.

That's really the crux of it: we, like Rocky, have to be willing to put in the hard work, believe we can even when it feels like we can't, listen to the wisdom of others, get out of our own way, then invest in others, and pass the hard won lessons on.

Not to put too personal a spin on it, but my wife and I are in a season now where we are facing difficult health challenges, are in a season of transition as our oldest child is preparing to leave home, and our younger one approaches the teen years. All in the midst of financial concerns, helping our aging parents, looking towards our own retirement years (not really all that far off). And honestly some days it doesn't feel as if we're overcoming at all.

It's rough. But it's life. And if there's one things that's true it's that if there's any blessing to pain, any comfort in it, it's that it means we're still alive and kicking. Still in the arena. To feel pain one has to be alive. Let's be honest: the dead don't feel it. And truthfully, more than the good times--the easy times--it's the hard times that shape us. If my faith in God has taught me anything it's that. In a sense, Rocky (and Creed after him) is like Jesus, "who for the joy set before him endure the cross (the training, the blows, the scorn), despising the shame."

So, yes, the hard times shape us--If we allow them to.

I'm still walking through it. My wife is walking through it. And chances are so are you.

How do you go the distance in your life?