I've seen this in a very real way play out in my life. Two years ago, I was backpacking with my family on Isle Royale in Michigan. We had to hike 10 miles each day to reach our camp before dark. The island is backcountry camping, and it is much easier to pitch a tent when it's not pitch black out. It's also much easier to locate the outhouse in the daylight!
So, on our first day out I started hiking strong, and then my knees blew out and hiking became much harder. My knees have taken a lot of wear and tear due to my being an athlete from a young age and then doing martial arts. I knew this trip would be hard, but Isle Royale is full of magical places that you can't experience unless you are willing to backpack in to see them. So I got some heavy-duty knee braces for support and just did it. Anyway, my pain finally got so intense walking up a hill that I threw off my pack, sat down in the grass beside the trail, and actually began sobbing. The pain was bad, but I was really crying out of frustration and disappointment that my body was not doing what I wanted it to do. Just then, a father-daughter duo came hiking along and told us that the camp was right over the hill! Instantly, my pain was more bearable because I had knowledge that soon I would be making camp and resting.
Well I made it, rested, and then hiked out to a little cove where I saw the most incredible sunset of my life! The entire beach was smooth stones in every shade of red, purple, grey, and white. I sat down on those stones and they poured all of their heat stored from the day's sun into my sore legs and feet - free hot stone massage! The sky was like a neon watercolor, and I think I took enough photos to fill 3 or 4 rolls of film...back when cameras actually had film.
Every day after that first day, just as I was about to reach my hiking limit, I would remember the beauty of that sunset and cultivate excitement about the unknown that awaited us. I was still in pain, but I knew that our camp would be there soon, and it always was! Believe me, this was not an easy experience for me. It challenged me more than anything yet in my life to use meditation to transcend the physical, and sometimes I faltered. In those moments thank goodness my family was there to encourage me, and since both of them have good knees, to take some weight out of my pack and into theirs.
In life, we usually don't get such confirmation that what we want is right over the hill, but if we persevere, we will get where we need to go. If we give up, we miss out on such amazing gifts that we never even imagined the universe was going to give us.