I think back to a cold, rainy morning when I was serving as the Director of Development for a nonprofit and we were hosting a 5K fundraiser. It was one of those days that looked a little rough before it even began—47 degrees, steady rain, gray skies that made everything feel heavier than it should have.
And yet, we were there. Outside all day. Setting up, registering runners, cheering people on, trying to keep spirits high while our coats got wetter and our hands stayed cold no matter how many times we rubbed them together.
But something beautiful happens in moments like that. People show up anyway. They laugh through the rain. They keep going when it would be easier to leave. There’s a kind of shared determination that turns discomfort into connection.
And then there was my daughter.
She showed up to run the 5K that day too—no hesitation, no complaint about the weather. Just ready. And she didn’t just run it… she won first place. Watching her cross that finish line in the rain is one of those proud, frozen-in-time memories I can still see so clearly. Not because it was perfect conditions, but because it wasn’t.
It was real. It was hard. And she did it anyway.
Looking back, I realize those kinds of days teach you something important about life and leadership. Things rarely line up perfectly. Plans get messy. Weather changes. People get uncomfortable. But purpose has a way of carrying you through all of it.
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9
That day was a reminder of that truth. We didn’t stop because it was cold. We didn’t quit because it was raining. We kept going because what we were doing mattered.
And in the middle of all that rain and effort, there was joy too—a finish line crossed, a daughter victorious, and a memory that still makes me smile all these years later.
Some days don’t look beautiful on the outside.
But they become beautiful in the remembering.