A great run.

As a runner, I find that there are times when you are about halfway through a particular run when you realize that this particular run is different from most other and is in some way working like medicine or therapy for your soul. Sounds weird? Maybe to some, but it is true! Last night was one of those great runs. It was a run that wasn’t necessarily planned and it didn’t really fit into a training schedule. There was no real structure, minimum mileage or goal time for the workout. I didn’t have a running partner, a watch, or cell phone—I just ran. At times, with certain events and emotions that tend to cloud your vision and confuse your thinking, there is nothing like lacing up your running shoes and heading out the door. Leaving everything surrounding you for a few brief moments and retreating to the sound of the birds beautifully chirping after a brief thunderstorm, your shoes hitting the wet pavement in just the perfect rhythmic cadence, and the setting sun reflecting off the clouds in just the right way so as to gloriously produce a multitude of burnt orange, yellow, and red hues all across the sky can all work together to bring everything back into perspective. Being outside on a run like this reminds me there is a Creator who is far greater than I and my life is about Him. Suddenly, with this reminder, the clouds in my soul roll back (if even only for a moment) and my vision is clear again. Yes, a great run can indeed be therapy at times.

(p.s. Of course that is ME running in Fern Canyon, CA in the photo above! Right, but in reality maybe I'll add this in as a stop when I am in California in May... then it really will be me!)