Day Ten - Jan 10, 2019
There’s a significant chance this post isn’t going to make any sense! After two long walks today trying to exercise Nellie at the dog park (and beyond)… I think the wind blew away any credible amount of clarity between my ears!
Everyday… twice a day, I try to take Nellie for a long walk at the park near our house. Usually it takes about forty-five mins each time - which would be precisely about one and a half hours that I do NOT feel like letting our German Short-haired Pointer run like a banshee mile after mile while trying to flush out all the birds that are warmly and nicely resting in their nests…!! But the other option on the table is to let the little love... beg and beg and then get into significant amounts of “trouble” in the house. So - nearly everyday - I choose option Number One.
Today was so tricky… the wind was ridiculous and I’m pretty sure the route we take is a flipping wind tunnel on steroids! I convinced Child Number One to accompany me. I reminded her that once we got about eighteen minutes into our walk and took the turn at the large rock - the wind would die down and we would have some relief. We sat in the van for an extra five minutes just to psych ourselves up enough to brave the elements. It wasn’t the cold - it was the wind gusts!
The thought process went something like this: “Kat, if we walk straight into the wind when we first start off… we will get to nearly the end of the circle and the wind will die down. Then we’ll turn the corner and start making our way back and the wind will literally push us back to the van.” And that’s exactly how we braved exercising our GSP today.
I couldn’t help but think, when we neared the massive rock where we took the turn to come back home - how similarly we can plan or not plan to succeed.
I personally hate exercising… It doesn't bring me joy. What brings me joy is watching Nellie and the crazy kids love every second of our daily treks. I love discovering different pieces of creation along the way… but the actual concept of taking a walk for pure enjoyment is agonizing.
Knowing I don’t love this thing but still needing to see it through - means that I have to figure out a way not to fail. It’s beyond motivation or willpower ... it’s finding a means to reach the ultimate goal.
The wind was howling, I couldn’t hear anything Kat was shouting at me and I was struck by a severe “ice cream headache” right between my eyes - just as I gratefully realized the trek back was about to begin.
Knowing myself, I took the hard road first - straight into the wind - when I had the most amount of determination stacked high… I knew that as our limbs began to freeze, the wind would blow us back and we’d experience success.
We aren’t all built the same way… some of us are motivated, some of us are disciplined, some of us love certain things, while others of us hate those same certain things. But if we can be incredibly honest with ourselves and practice wise self-assessment - we usually can find a scrap of strength to take one more step.
God is drawn to movement. He cannot make a soul do anything… He respects the gift of choice He gave mankind at the beginning of time. He is drawn to those who stay in motion… those who are willing to examine their hearts deeply and look for ways to improve themselves by His grace.
And sometimes it might be as simple as planning to walk straight into the wind at the beginning of the journey, so that when we get weary - we’ll have the Wind ushering us to the finish line…