Dukes Up

I recently asked a man how things were going. "Taking a beating," he replied. His eyes were weary and the tone of his voice was sad. You could tell he was stirring a week's worth of worries into his first cup of coffee. I looked at him and smiled, "Sometimes all we can do is give it right back, punch for punch." He laughed. It was a good laugh. A "Yeah, I forgot about that part!" laugh.

Here's the thing about the "fight of life": you will not win it. None of us will. We all end up on our backs in the final round. That's not what matters.

What matters is how much you care. Like boxers who are outmatched in the ring, it's not about victory so much as it is about the size of the fight in them, the amount of heart they put into the effort and the relentlessness in which they come off the stool round after round after round. A winning boxer who hardly breaks a sweat never gets the cheers, it's the guy who breathing heavy around his mouthpiece, with fixed eyes and hunched shoulders, who circles and circles and occasionally lands a few punches and then...cracks a tiny grin. That's the guy we cheer for. That's why we all love the underdog; because deep down we know that he is us.

So as you face a new week, face another round, do so with your dukes up and your heart on your sleeve. And remember to grin, because God's in your corner. Always.

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