Keep your head up!!

I don't really consider myself to be a runner.  I have never really enjoyed this past-time but I also find myself craving it if I haven't gone at least once within the week.  I started running after Karrington was born, so that's what.. probably around 6 1/2 years ago.  I am also blessed with terrible knees and hips, so I will, unfortunately, never be a long distance runner.  I have settled for feeling accomplished with my morning 5Ks.  If it's any further than that, it's just icing on the cake.

This last Sunday on my run, I had a bit of a realization.  An awareness that I've always known about but for some reason, this weekend it just hit me differently.

I look down when I run.  I always have.  It's important for me to pay attention to and anticipate the condition of the spaces where my feet will land.  It helps to protect my joints.  The more that I focus on the path in front of me, the safer that I'll be.

But I've also always wanted to be one of those people who goes to these fabulous places and runs. In the mountains, thru forests, on beaches, over old bridges, past waterfalls, down roads thru fields of wildflowers..  Wouldn't it be amazing to go for a run and be surrounded by that majesty and beauty?!? As I ran Sunday morning, I thought of this and realized that even if I was there, doing the exact thing I dream of doing at that very moment - I wouldn't see any of it because all I ever do is look at the pavement beneath my feet!!  I found myself missing the beauty of what was already around me because I was watching for loose gravel and potholes.  I was watching for what-ifs.

I want to be one of those people who really sees where they're going.  I mean, I know it's important to look down periodically to make sure my path is safe but I also want to keep my eyes on the big picture - taking in the scope and magnitude of the purpose that surrounds me.

So I forced myself to keep my head up this weekend.  At first - ugh!  I didn't like it at all!  It felt new and awkward and significantly unsafe! But that's something that I'll learn to overcome with practice and time.

Then there was the fact that when I look down and watch the path at my feet - I feel like I'm actually accomplishing so much more!  You see, the path beneath my feet moves much faster than the scenery does when I keep my head up.  (You know, like when you're driving in a car, the road beside you speeds by incredibly fast while the field that is further away passes by much more slowly.)  And as a girl who values her time and tries to spend it wisely, I want to feel like I'm gettin' something done! But this perspective of feeling like I was accomplishing something more just by keeping my head down, was more discouraging that I expected and it left me feeling quite unsettled..

So why am I sharing this??  Because this is how I believe too many of us go thru our lives.  This is how I've been going thru my life.  I want to get stuff done!  I want to accomplish things!  I want to make progress!  I want to knock my run off of my to-do list!  But how often am I really stopping to make sure I'm even on the right path?  Do I even enjoy the progress I'm making?  Am I accomplishing something that is really important?  Do the answers to these questions matter?  Actually, it's the only thing that does really matters.  Living an intentional life with purpose and meaning requires perspective and reflection.  The only way to accomplish that is to learn to keep my head up and focused!

There will come a day, for me and for all of us, when our paths and journeys will end.  When that day comes, we will face the test of what we have really accomplished in this life.  As Beth Moore poses in her book Audacious, what will others say about you when you're gone?  Will they say that you lived an intrepidly daring, adventurous, and bold life?  Will they say that you lived your life with love?  Will they say that you lived your life for Him?   A better question to ask is what will He think?  Since that's all that will really matter on that day.



For those of you who don't know, tomorrow is my last day at Koch.  My last day at Flint Hills Resources.  This will be a bitter-sweet day for me.  I will more than likely cry, that's usually what I do.  I believe it safe to assume that I have walked thru that tunnel probably some 4,000 times in the last 8 1/2 years.  And while I am not defined by my profession or by my place of employment, Koch has definitely been a part of me and who I have become.  I have grown and changed and I am so grateful for everything I have learned by being a part of this great company.

But, it's time for something new.

Next week I will begin a new chapter.  I will place my feet upon a new path.  I am so excited and blessed to be joining the Wichita Habitat for Humanity team.  And I cannot wait to begin my journey!!  I pray that I have the courage and heart to truly live out their mission statement:
"Seeking to put God's love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope."

I want to learn to run with my head held high, filled with love and focused on my God.  Because taking His path is the only one that really matters.