Fit Grit & Grace

We were on a family vacation recently in Florida, and our little girl, Charlie Kate, was LOVING running around in the warm sunshine.  We took SO MANY walks around the motor coach park where we were staying.  The park layout was a big circle, so the other vacationers at the park would walk their dogs, ride bikes, drive golf carts, or just cruise around the circle in their newly washed cars.  It was a busy place.

So Charlie and I would take off for our walk and I would have to constantly say to her, “Stay on the sidewalk.”  The road was busy, and not everyone was watching for a toddling baby girl.  I had to say this SO MANY times.  “Stay on the sidewalk.” “Stay on the sidewalk.” “Charlie, please stay on the sidewalk.”  The road is dangerous.  You could get hit.  You could cause an accident.  You could get hurt.  The road is dangerous.  The sidewalk is safe. “Charlie Kate, please stay on the sidewalk.”  After repeating this phrase over and over again, it finally sank in.  Not for Charlie Kate, but for ME.

I finally felt just an inkling of what God must feel as he watches us grow.  We take off at high speeds, just enjoying this human life.  We run into the road, darting through obstacles in our way, and sometimes we get hurt.  Sometimes we cause others to get hurt.  Sometimes we get knocked down.  Sometimes we crash.  “Stay on the sidewalk, child.”  “This path I have set for you is safe and so, so good.”  “Child, please stay on the sidewalk.”

We have all experienced a time when we thought we knew the way in which we should go.  Everyone else seemed to be going in that direction so we thought we should too.  Or we wanted to do our own thing so we took another turn.  But the beauty of staying on the path, or sidewalk, that God has set for us lies in the truth that it can take us to places we can’t even imagine going on our own.  And our paths are not all the same.

God doesn’t want us to confuse staying on the path with, conforming to a straight and narrow sameness as everyone else.  Sometimes I think we like to put Christianity in a box, and its members all have to fill this square of rules.  But God made ways for us that are unique to EACH ONE of us.  All we have to do is listen to His command,

“Stay on the sidewalk.”

Psalm 37:4

Deuteronomy 5:33

Do you ever feel like a fake? Like no matter how genuine you think you are, or are truly trying to be, your words don’t feel like they’re your own? I struggle with this everyday. I honestly don’t know how to interact with people, yet constantly put myself in situations where I have to. I love people, but I over analyze my actions, my words, my thoughts, and then I do the same to everyone else. I can’t quit. It’s such a habit it drives me crazy, making me horribly silly sometimes. I want people to like me. I want people to accept me. I want people to love me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except I want it out of everyone I meet. I simply cannot accept when people do not like me.

I. Can’t. Accept It.

I will literally get my mind and my heart into this worried ball of disgusting angst  when I think someone is upset with me. It really is a terrible mess of thoughts and fear and ugliness that I get myself into. And for what? I work so hard on building all of these friendships and crumble when they don’t work out or grow distant. I badger myself with questions, what did I do wrong? What did I say? Why doesn’t this person like me? I. I. I. Me. Me. Me. Selfishly, I become anxious instead of remembering that…

God. Is. In. Charge. Here.

I don’t stop and think about the seasons God has planned for me. I don’t remember that when the summer ends the leaves begin to change their colors and fall begins. I forget that God places some people in our lives for only a season and for only His reason.  So let’s get over ourselves (myself). Some people are not meant to stay in our lives forever, but are placed just so perfectly to prepare us for the next seasons of our lives. So let us remember that the next time we are going batty analyzing something we’ve said, concocting all of these scenarios where no one likes us anymore and we are alone in a corner…moping.

Let. Us. Not. Mope.

Let us choose joy when dealing with people that may not like us, and allow ourselves to accept the people God has placed in our lives, and move on with grace when He takes them away.

Cheer up, and read up…

Matthew 6:25-32

Colossians 3:12-14

Running has become one of my best friends. We wake up early together, enjoy new songs together, explore new cities and roads together, but most importantly we’ve built a relationship through time spent together. Time spent together is the key here. I’d like you to experience a first mile, if you’ve never been runner, you can just humor me here for a minute.

The first mile of a run is the absolute WORST. Your mind and your body are saying terrible, awful things to you like, go back to bed, it’s cold, I have to pee, let’s just do a short run today, yeah let’s do that then go back to sleep! But you HAVE to shut it out, or you believe it and it ruins the entire run. I like to associate the first mile with the Devil, himself. I think back to the times in my life when I would just kind of dabble in a deeper relationship with God. I was a comfortable Christian, just safe and cozy in my nice square box. God would try and open these doors for me to come in and get a little closer to Him. He longed for me to spend more time with Him.  I’d take those first steps, but the voice of the first mile Devil would begin to speak to me. Wait, you’re safe here. You’re doing everything you’re supposed to. You love Jesus, let’s just stay here, there’s no need to get any closer.  It’s comfortable here, you like it here. That first mile devil won many times. I would step back, shut the door, and get back in my box. And then I became a runner, God taught me to shut out the voices telling me I’m too tired, I’m too sore, and he gave me strength to push through and just enjoy the freedom of the run.

That doesn’t mean running gets any easier because it doesn’t, it just means that my love for running has gotten stronger. The same goes for my relationship with Jesus. I have to trust God to shut the voice of the first mile Devil out so that I find the sweetness in His love, and can enjoy the freedom of our run through life.

When you’re running on empty…

Hebrews 12:1