10K

Five months ago I started running. Today I met my first major goal to run a 10K. This post may look rather subdued but inside I am beside myself with jubilation.

Next goal 8 miles.

Here are my fans:)

Taking The Elevator

Having realized the extraordinarily painful reality that I am weak in more ways than I can count (why does it sometimes feel like I'm drowning in them), I'm taking the elevator up to God like the Little Flower. We have all had painful times realizing our fragility. Do these times become quiescent, or do we give them right back to God?

I want to - in fact I need to - go up to the next level on this little elevator - in the arms of Jesus.

When I go running, I give everything - pushing my legs and my will to keep going, foot in front of the other and not stop until I have reached the set goal. These times are of incredible value to me. There is no 'noise'. I can talk to God; and the shock of it all, God responds. And so I've climbed aboard the elevator and I'm determined to stay there. If I give my best fish and finest bread (which really are mealy small fish and crumbly deflated loaves of bread), then Jesus will raise me one floor at a time until I'm Home. The majority of the time is spent practicing humility, patience and forgiveness. Most of all it means I must choose love - ignoring the knee jerk reactions that plague my human heart, and making acts of trust in Him.

Jesus, I trust in You!

Why Run?

I started running about 2-3 months ago for many reasons. Since then, I've badly sprained an ankle, updated my sneakers, shrunk half an inch, gone from barely running 1 mile to a 5K, and then a faster 5K then I originally ran.

I've also spent my time while running praying, contemplating Heaven and mentally pushing myself to take the next step when the next step seemed physically impossible. I've offered up the pain for souls in purgatory, thought about my own sorry spiritual state and spent this miraculously peaceful time hoping and ultimately choosing to trust in God above all things. Running has become a gift to me mentally, spiritually and hopefully eventually physically.

There is much that I'm boldly asking God for (the gift of another baby). I'm also asking to be content with His Will.

It is quite remarkable the way that running seems to produce the impetus to grow in other areas of my somewhat creative life. Running also eases emotional pain, busying my often idle mind with ideas of beauty, truth and just simple old loveliness that can't help but pop into my head when there are no written or spoken words to occupy my information weary mind. Not only am I contemplating certain fanciful ideas, I'm also carrying them out.

Quilting will always be a passion for me with the simply phenomenal selection of fabrics designs that now provide unlimited opportunities for the imagination. That said, if you talk to me about robins, butterflies, blossoms, flowers, trees, streams and rivers something inside me comes alive. Maybe this is why I love Charlotte Mason philosophy in education. I glory in seeing nature in a profusion of color, intensity and wonder. And then I love the natural world in its delicate subtlety that draws out the attentiveness and wonder hiding in your soul. So how wonderful would it be to record all this loveliness that seems to provoke - of course - love in my soul through more than just quilts and poems. My truly inspiring husband suggested photography to me and now I am currently knee deep in the how too of SLR photography.

The camera of course will have to wait. By the time it arrives, I hope to be well versed in theory and avid to put it into practice.