Running as a metaphor for life...

So, I have been able to keep up with running... 3 miles on W, F, and M. I didn't get to go today... it was too dark this morning and I only have dark clothes to wear running... I discovered I am rather addicted to running... which is good and frustrating at the same time!!

I have been wanting to blog all week... so many thoughts simmering in my brain, wanting to be let out and expressed. Yet every time I sit down, my thoughts refuse to flow!!! My brain seems to require silence to express itself, and with Anna not really napping anymore... silence is a rare commodity!! Quiet time has not been going well either, in our house... but I refuse to give up!!!

Days like today, when I feel overwhelmed with all I have committed to... make me question my commitments. Life just isn't working today!!! Yet I am reminded of the lesson I am learning as I train my body to run.

When I run, I get to a point where I am out of breath and feel like I can't go on. Yet, if I am ok with this uncomfortable feeling, if I press on, I discover a rhythm in which I feel I could run for hours!! It is the same with life... if I just press on, perhaps needing to walk, but still moving forward, then suddenly life is easier, or at least, do-able, survive-able. It is that hanging on in the difficult times that is important. Maybe that is what I love about running, that feeling of accomplishing something that at times feels impossible. So perseverance is the first lesson.

The second is being ok without a routine. When I run with both Anna and Dillon, I have to stop often, letting one or both out, to keep peace among the ranks. So my run turns into an interval workout. Sometimes I am straining against the weight of two children and a stroller, barely able to keep running up the hill, other times running with ease, down hill, or running slowly waiting for one or both to keep up. (Anna and Dillon are more interested in looking at all the bugs, sticks and pine cones that line our route!!) I would prefer the predictable 3 mile run, I know how long it will take me and can set my own pace!!! Yet that is not always the run I get to run, and running with two is definitely more interesting!!! However, I will never establish a habit of running if I only run on my own terms.

Life works the same way. Sometimes it is hard to find a routine... and that is a struggle for me, one who thrives on routine. I have to be ok with this interval workout, sometimes struggling against obstacles that keep appearing... not always in the form of Anna and Dillon =)... and sometimes living life "down-hill" with everything moving smoothly and without incident.

So, I continue to run, to persevere, and to live life despite the interruptions. Isn't it the interruptions that make life interesting and fun?? :)

Hebrew 12: 1-2
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I love that the passage states "the run that is set before us". God gives each of us a run, a life, that is unique, in which He will equip us to run. I also love that God tells us how to run this race, to "fix our eyes on Jesus".

May you run with endurance the race that is set before you and fix your eyes on Jesus.