Running has me baffled. I hate it. I love it. I don't know what I feel about it but I get some great thoughts about many things when I'm on a long run. Lately I have been training for a race and as usual, I am very much disliking it at times when the weather isn't good or I feel like I am trying to fit running into a busy schedule. Or the fact that my body doesn't want to cooperate with me so much of the time. I feel like I know so little about how my body works and trains but then I realize that I am also learning very much about myself and this complex body that God created. I am finding out that I really have enjoyed training in the winter verses the summer. ( this may be due to the fact that I live in the south and it is extremely hot and muggy here in the summer and very hard to run. And our winters aren't very cold and snowy. ) I have once again learned so much about myself in training and preparing for this race. I get a little crazy and I over analyze everything. I'm a crazy person that is all there is to it! Even in my running by myself I get all worked up and nervous before I run a long run. ( Like it really matters.) Once I am on my way and into the run it's fine. It's just before I start running that I get anxious. I don't know why I can't be more cool, calm and collected. I feel like everyone else is but not me. I'm sure that is not true but it's how I feel.
My running on several occasions has shown me something spiritual as it so often does. When I go out on a long run I run out half of my distance I plan to run for the day from my house and then turn around. It's a good way for me to make sure that I go the distance I have planned and not quit because I'm close to home and can just decide to come home because I'm tired. Many times I can be running and the weather is perfect and my path good, I feel fast but when I turn around all of the sudden the wind is blowing crazy and I am struggling against it. I am running against a force and I feel that I won't make it home. But then as I turn a bit on my path it isn't as bad and I do make it home. I hadn't even realized the wind was blowing when it was at my back but when I turn around it is pushing against me and making it difficult to run. It slows my pace immensely.
But I am learning the difficult elements in training are what make me stronger and help me finish strong in my races.
I was thinking this is how life is. God is like the wind. So often when everything is going well in life I don't even think about Him being around me. I take Him for granted and often times don't acknowledge Him at all. It's when things turn around and I experience trouble that I see Him in a different light. I realize that He is near and how I need Him. I call out for help and for Him to be near when He was near all the time.
God's spirit is everywhere. Sometimes it's blowing at our backs and we don't even know how He's moving us along and making things so smooth and wonderful for us. At other times He is blowing against us and allowing us to struggle if for no other reason than to remind us that He is here and we have forgotten to remember Him and thank Him. He wants us to finish our race strong and not quit before we're home.
That is the message God spoke to my heart the other day during my run. I want to remember God no matter which direction His spirit is blowing. Give God thanks today in the good times and hard times. He deserves to be thanked.
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