Friday Dad and I went for a late afternoon run. Poor choice. I hadn't had lunch, it was over 90 degrees outside, and I still can't breathe here. Needless to say, I didn't last long. We ended up walking the entire second half our three mile loop and I had a near asthma attack (sheesh, that is a scary feeling when you breathe in but can't get enough oxygen... my heart goes out to all your asthmatics!). Lesson learned: don't run in 90 degree weather on an empty stomach without being adjusted to the altitude.
Last night was a different story. We left the house at 10pm to accommodate for our late dinner and the Bachelorette (which my entire family ended up watching!) and went for a 4 mile run on the paths behind my neighborhood. As we started out, Dad asked me if I preferred a large hill at the beginning and a gradual decline from there on out, or a gradual incline the whole way and a steep decline at the end. Is that a legitimate question? Obviously, I chose the former.
Psalm 119:105 says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I remember hearing once that the lamp the Psalmist refers to would have only provided enough light for a step or two, and that is how our walk with the Lord ought to be-- taken by faith, and not by sight. I was thinking about that as we ran last night only by the ambient light of interior house lights and distant street lights. I struggle to keep running in broad daylight, when I can see the path clearly ahead of me and can easily calculate how far I've left to run. But at night, as we run without even the light of the moon, I am only able to see a few feet ahead of me, and poorly at that. Ironically, it's easier to keep going when all I can focus on is the next step. I think the Lord knows that. He knows we couldn't handle to see the whole picture, so he reveals things little by little, piece by piece, giving us just enough information or insight to act in obedience. We'd be overwhelmed otherwise.
Although I strongly prefer running at night, it still wasn't easy. As I wrote in my first blog post, one of my motivations to train for this marathon is to regain the discipline I lost when I quit swimming. Last night was further confirmation of the weak state of my mind. With virtually every step I wanted to quit... not for any legitimate reason... but simply because it was hard. The temptation to stop was at points overwhelming but I overcame that by reciting this phrase-- "beautiful legs, beautiful body." Sounds ridiculous, right? But it worked. Whenever I wanted to stop I said that phrase over and over and over (making it my virtual companion for the last two miles). The inspiration for the phrase came from my dear friend Amelia who gave me marathon advice a few months ago. She told me that after all the months of training that my legs would be beautiful. For some strange reason, that stuck with me. The second part is one of my deepest motivations for running at all... I want my body to be in beautiful shape.
Anyway, I made it the whole way. It was a good feeling to finally accomplish something I promised myself I would (too frequently over the last few months have I given into temptation to take the easy way out). I'm slowly on the path toward regaining mental discipline
One of my favorite standby phrases is "Rise up and do the next thing faithfully." Reciting that over and over narrows my focus and allows me to continue on in the midst of stress or anxiety and to continue on after failure. It's my hope that whatever situation you find yourself in today and always, that you would find encouragement in that the Lord only ever asks us to rise up and do the next thing faithfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment