I had been watching the weather the day before, as it finally turned winter here in Ohio. I do not enjoy the cold, so I was rather savoring the 40 and 50 degree runs I was getting in during January. When I woke up and prepared to head out, I layered up because as of 6:30 am Saturday, it was raining and a little windy. There was a thin layer of ice hanging ever so beautifully on the trees and glossing the grass. I tested out the streets and decided that they were only wet, and not slick, so it was ok to head out.
I began my run...
These are the moments I both love and hate about training. I dislike the cold and wet combination in the winter. I dislike the dark morning in the midst of January. However, I enjoy the peace of others not being out. I also enjoy that the training process is really what shapes me. I love what I learn through the months of working hard at the miles, ever so slowly. I enjoy the thoughts flowing freely.
Through the run, I dodged puddles and had to walk in spots which did prove to be slick. I became soaked (and decided I really ought to invest in something waterproof when I run in these cold rains). But all the while, I felt good about getting out into the morning to do my run. I know that I will never be that person winning age group awards, but through my running, I do feel like I am winning at life. I am growing in the person I want and need to be.
As I ran Saturday morning, I found myself comparing the run to life. This is why I always say the training journey, for me, is more valuable the the race itself, because of what I learn about me along the way. I tried hard to dodge the puddles, but inevitably found one which soaked my feet, much to my chagrin in the cold wind.
Isn't life like that? We work hard to keep on the right path, doing our best to dodge the "puddles"- aka the rough spots, the hard times, the "oh crap" moments. Yet, no matter how hard we try to do that, sometimes it cannot be avoided. We just have to walk (or run) through them. We have to get both feet wet in order to keep moving forward. We can't push through the day until we've walked through the puddle.
After I made my way through that puddle, a mile later, I found a very slick spot. It was icy and I could spot it before I got to it, but I could not avoid it. Therefore, I had to slow down and walk. Life also calls for that at times.
We gain momentum, we feel good, and then comes an icy patch.... forcing a slow down. This may mean re-evaluating a path we are on. It could mean looking intently at those who surround us and whether they are going to help us cross that icy path or do we need to let go and do it on our own? Call my evaluation a stretch if you will, but for me, it's a very real lesson in life. Seeing it in the light ahead of me was a helpful "heads-up" of what was to come, but I could not avoid it, simply prepare for it and slow down. Better to see it than to be caught off guard and fall on my face.
Finally passing that patch, I was able to finish out my run well, albeit wet and cold. But I finished well, and isn't that what really counts?
Jesus never promised an easy life here, he in fact said there would be troubles (puddles and icy patches). But what counts is how we push through those, what we learn in the midst of them and how we finish the race. I want to finish well, don't you? I want Him to be where my eyes are fixed. I may get wet feet and slick patches along the way, and I'm sure I will fall more than once, but ultimately in the end, the shoes will dry and the ice will melt and there will be a lesson learned through it all, and He will have been there the whole time.
Hebrews 12:1-2 "Do you see what this means- all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? i means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race were in. ...."
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