I was riding my motorcycle to work this morning around 6:30am, and the temp was in the low 40’s.  Normally, I love this kind of weather, but when you are doing 60+ MPH, that gets stinking cold.  I had on multiple layers, but still the almost-freezing air was cutting through.  The commute was only about 15 minutes, but within the first 5 minutes or so, I found myself thinking that I could not take much more.  I toughed it out though, and made it to work.  On the way there, I started considering my overall toughness, or my ability/inability to endure.  I thought about all the times when things get physically demanding, and I have to just suck it up and tough-it-out.  I remembered all those wrestling practices, intense workouts, COLD RIDES, etc. . .   While considering all of this though, I started thinking of all the times that I had failed due to a lack of SPIRITUAL TOUGHNESS.  I started to wonder if this was common, and the conclusion I came to was, YES… I believe it is common.  We are so quick to call on our toughness during physically demanding times, but why do we crumble so easily when we need to call on our SPIRITUAL toughness.  I think that it is due to our lack of training, or even that do not even consider that we HAVE spiritual toughness.  Paul often refers to our Christian lives as something similar to an athletic event.  He even tells us to TRAIN ourselves.  I think all of this begins with the realization that since we have GOD in us, we can take much more than we think.  We need to remember this when things get tough.  It is alot like my ride this morning… at 5 minutes, I thought I was done, but soon enough I realized, “Yeah, I am just as cold as I was a few minutes ago, but really… has it gotten any worse?  No… and I could take it 5 minutes ago, so I am still good now.”  So, maybe sometimes I just need to suck it up… tough it out.  Life is rough- no doubt, but God makes us tough when we need to be.  Scripture assures us, that He will never allow us to endure more than we can bare.  Hold on to that… toughen up-  I know we can.