Moving out of darkness at a crawl

pressing into light,

I lay aside encumbrances

one small shred at a time.

Though dropping an ounce of vice here & there,

I long to throw down more, break the chains,

and divest myself completely of  this heavy load

and run to my future unencumbered.

Yet here I stalk slowly forward

losing no more than minimal amounts

of the weight that does beset me,

trudging more than running the race,

noting every inch of progress,

recording in my mind any gain however small

that tells me I  may someday have some hope of winning this race.

(Hebrews 12:1)