The Middle: Don't Stop Here
Last Saturday morning I went to workout with a group to run on the old Paradise Island Bridge.
I came in with rhythm. I had my pace, my breath and my momentum. I was feeling good and strong and then I hit the middle of that bridge, everything changed. The arch on that bridge rises steep and doesn't apologize for itself.
It was in the middle that my stride broke. I had to lean forward, slow my pace and almost fight for every step. I couldn't approach the middle with the same intensity and speed I had coming in. Something had to shift. In that moment I said out loud: “Oh God, this is a lot.”
Here's what I noticed while trying to run the middle - I didn't stop. Instead, I adjusted. I changed my posture and my pace and I kept moving. It was slower, different, but forward.
Once I got over the hardest part of the middle, I felt my stride open back up. I was faster on the downhill than I'd been at the start. Because the hardest work was already behind me.
Right there on that bridge, God began to speak. He said: The middle is where people give up. The middle is where they throw in the towel, because it requires so much more effort. It demands they show up differently and asks them to do what they've never done before. But the middle is also where you are building something and on the other side of it, there is something beautiful.
I sat with that all the way home and then I thought about the calendar as we entered into the month of June. We are stepping into the middle of the year. I wonder how many of us started January with intention, with fire, with a word from God over our lives and somewhere between then and now, the bridge got steep?
Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe it's your motherhood. Maybe it's a dream, a ministry, a healing, a prayer you've been praying for so long you've stopped expecting an answer. Maybe it's your faith itself that has felt like it's in a hard middle season.
Wherever you are, this word is for you. Don't stop here.
Scripture ReflectionLet 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 (NIV)
The promise isn't that the middle will be easy. The promise is that the harvest comes to those who don't quit. Sometimes, not quitting looks like slowing down, shifting posture, and leaning forward into the climb, one step at a time.
Heart TruthsHere is what the middle is really telling you:
The middle is not a sign you're failing. It's a sign you've been going long enough to feel the weight of it. That means you started and you're still here. That is not nothing.
Changing your approach is not the same as giving up. In marriage, in motherhood, in faith, in friendship, discernment is knowing when to shift your strategy without abandoning your commitment.
The middle is a test of character. What is being built in you during this season is the very thing you will need on the other side of it.
Slowing down is not the same as stopping. Give yourself permission to change your pace without making it mean something it doesn't. You are still moving. That matters.
The second half of the year is still full of possibility. June 1st is not too late. It is not evidence of what you didn't do, it is an invitation to choose who you will be from here.
Loving Well In ActionHere are some practical steps for the woman in the middle season:
Name the season honestly. Say it out loud or write it down: I am in a hard middle right now. In your marriage. In your motherhood. In your faith. Naming it removes some of its power over you.
Adjust, don't abandon. Look at one relationship or commitment where you've been forcing the old rhythm. Ask: what needs to shift to keep moving forward into the second half of this year?
Check your posture. On that bridge, I had to lean forward. What does leaning forward look like for you right now? Recommitting to date night? Showing up to church even when you don't feel like it? Calling that friend? Do the one thing.
Anchor yourself in one truth this week. Write Galatians 6:9 somewhere you'll see it. On the mirror, the dashboard, the kitchen counter. Let it find you when you forget.
Your LoveNote Challenge
Write yourself a note this week and name one specific thing you are still committed to, even in this season. Think about that bridge. Think about the middle of the year and what it means to choose forward from right here.
Tell yourself ”I may have slowed down, but I have not stopped and I'm not going anywhere.”
Finish With IntentionJune is the middle of the year. You may be in the middle of the marriage, the middle of the hard season, the middle of the prayer or the middle of the bridge.
This is exactly where God does some of His best work. Not at the starting line, not at the finish, but right here, in the steep and slow middle, where you have to lean in and choose to keep going.
Don't stop here. Shift your posture. Change your pace if you have to, but keep going forward, love. You are not behind. You are not too late. You are exactly where your next level is being built.
Something beautiful is on the other side of this bridge. Keep climbing.
Keep going. Ready to Use Your Words More Intentionally?
If today’s blog stirred something in you and if you’re ready to move from inspired to consistent, I have something coming just for you!
Love Him Well: The Daily Love Note Kit launches June 7. It was created to help wives show up for their husbands with intention, every single day with one small love note at a time.
Join the waitlist and be the first to know when doors open.
👉 Join the Waitlist → https://keishacleare.myflodesk.com/lovehimwell