Hitting the Trail

  Today I want to share a few thoughts with you that I had while I was running this morning.  Now, to be fair, it has been over a year since I have run.  Prior to that I had become an avid runner.  I was going to the trail almost every day, and on my days off I was running around 7 miles.  But then I hit a snag.  Two snags in fact.  In June of last year I dropped a dresser on my foot and ended up in a boot for a month.  It's safe to say this effectively stopped my running for a period of time.  And just about the time when I was thinking my foot had healed enough to start again, I was bitten by a dog on my other foot.  This prevented me from running for a few more weeks, and after that it got cold and snowy, and from that time on I basically gave up on running.  In fact, I haven't even attempted to run since last June.  My body had gotten to a place where I thought of myself as someone who "used to run."
  Have you ever been there?  Maybe not with running, but with your life in general?  Maybe something got you off track with your career.  Maybe you got sidelined by illness, having kids, or caring for a loved one, and maybe now you think of yourself as someone who "used to have a good career."  Maybe it's your health.  Maybe your travel schedule or your family schedule caused you to start making poor food choices and stop exercising, and now you feel like you are just someone who "used to be healthy."  Maybe you used to be strong spiritually.  You were grounded in your faith and had a strong relationship with God, but maybe you made a wrong choice, and then another, and another, until you aren't even sure now where you are at with God.  You just see yourself as someone who "used to be religious."
  We all have things in life that knock us off course, change our direction, or slow us down for a time.  But many times we continue that pattern long after the original cause for our change in direction is gone.  But what I want to remind you today is that it is never to late to get back on course.  You can be someone who has a great career, is an avid runner, is healthy, has a strong relationship with God, or any number of life goals you may have let fall by the wayside.  You won't get there by looking back at what you used to be though.  You can only get to where you should be by looking ahead and starting one step at a time down the right path.
  When I started down the trail jogging today, at first it felt heavenly.  I had a spring in my step, and it felt so good to be running again.  But after a few hundred feet my body started to question, "Are we really doing this?  We're going to keep running?"  My lungs and legs wanted to stop, but my brain said, "Just keep moving."  And when I made it almost around the track I realized something.  I was letting go of the past, running free of my false ideas about my inabilities, and when I crossed the line to finish the lap, I knew in my head, "I did it.  I am still a runner."
  Let this be a reminder to you that no matter how long you've been off the path or no matter how far you are from where you were, all you need to do to become what you're meant to be is take the first step, then another, and another.  Don't quit.  Finish the first lap, and when you do, you will once again know that you can do it, and you have done it, and you are making it.  Don't let the past lie to you about who you are now and what you can be in the future.  Get out there and hit the trail today.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.W.