limited

Today was one of those “I have nothing going on so I’m going to get a lot done but I end up falling asleep and going running and buying new songs on itunes” kind of days. And now I’m on my second helping of dinner. And my textbooks are glaring at me. And the Huskers are playing so there’s bound to be yelling eventually. Home and fall just go together. I love my room at Grace, but coming home to chili and fireplaces is the absolute best.

I know a lot of these are based on what I’ve learned while running. Guys, if you want to daily learn life lessons, run every day outside. Seriously. He teaches me something or reinforces a truth each time. That’s my exhortation for the day. Run outside. Even if it’s cold or raining or humid or windy. Just run.

I ran my normal “home” route…through neighborhoods, along busy streets, and I came to this path that I rarely run on. The rain had let up and I wanted to get to a song on my playlist so I decided to extend my run. Despite the gloomy, overcast weather and wet air, the colors screamed at me in shades of orange, yellow, and red. Brilliant trees shone at me as I ran on the path. Images that I thought only belonged in masterpiece paintings or sophisticated photography were all around me. I just wanted my camera, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

And I realized that sometimes God calls us off the paved road. He directs us away from streetlights and rules of the cemented street. He extends our run, calls us to the unknown, to the less traveled. Straight into ambiguity. We don’t know how long our run will be extended. We have things to do though, Lord. So please don’t make this path long. Please get us back to the street…it’s easy to map how far we’ve run when we stay on the roads…but these paths are a little bit more tricky. They’re messy. They curve and twist and wind. And there’s no one on this path with us. We don’t see humans anywhere, and it’s getting kind of lonely.

But if we look, we find that these paths, these unknown paths that God pulls us into by the power of His hand that we are so reluctantly following, hold the greatest beauty. We find shades of orange we never knew existed. Tapestries of colors wave in the trees—colors that remain vibrant even when the rain pours and threatens to ruin our ipods. We are amazed that God saved the most beauty for the paths less-visited. Those streets with their safety and organization have nothing on this. This path’s beauty is unmatched, and not replicated anywhere else. And when we look at the overwhelming beauty of this path we didn’t necessarily choose, we cannot help but smile.

And thus the beauty of these paths is overwhelmingly worth the disorganization and inconvenience it may have seemed at first.

And something inside us has the strength to keep running.