January 26, 2011- Running...

     As I was running around the island tonight, for the first time in quite a while I might add, I thought about the various ways I have been metaphorically running throughout my short life thus far.  As a young girl and later young woman, I found myself running away from things mostly, running away from pain, running away from those people who hurt me, and running away from what I didn’t understand as a way to move forward. Trouble is, running away from my problems never helped me move forward. It only brought me right back to the heart of the matter and prolonged the inevitable painful decisions I had to make to become better and resolve my issues.  As I have matured in age, emotional health, professional experience, and in spiritual matters, I began running toward my goals, running toward what I wanted, even if it was a seemingly impossible goal, running toward it made more sense than giving up or running away this time.  Now, with my professional, personal, and spiritual life the most stable it’s ever been, I find myself running with life. Each day, I am running from classroom to classroom, running to resolve issues and conflicts at work, running to complete all my daily responsibilities to the best of my ability, running to teach my kids and be there for them in every way possible, and simply running to keep up with it all.   The thing is that running with life is the best type of running. Running away from life was painful, running toward future goals was fraught with worry of never reaching my goals, but running to do my job, to take care of my boys, to fulfill my duties in life is satisfying. Yes, it’s exhausting at times, but it’s a good exhaustion like the physical exhaustion of my muscles tonight after pushing them running around the atoll. This evening, I kept telling myself when I wanted to stop to keep going because running would bring me renewed energy, health, and motivation to get into the routine again. That’s what my daily “life running” does for me, gives me renewed energy and motivation to continue what I am doing, realizing that every little step I take toward serving my co-workers or my kids, family, and friends, will bring me new life and help me fulfill my purpose...As Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." I press on, friends...I press on. Life is not going to stop for me, so I will do the best I can to keep up with it and enjoy the time I have on this earth, running toward all that is good, kind, and loving, in other words, running with God and not away from Him or toward anything other than Him! He knows what’s best for me and all His creations, and He will take you to it if you just let Him!