cornucopia of Christmas contemplations

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Whitney, you shouldn't run today.

 But dad!

 Whitney, it's icy and uneven and you'll fall. It's a bad idea.

 Unfortunately, I fall in love with bad ideas. And choosing to run outside anyways (with the mindset of, if I can't run a few miles in the snow, there is no way I'll be able to run 26.2 miles in not snow) was one of the BEST worst ideas I've ever given into.

is it just me, or are you hearing that Rocky background music too?

hey thanks everyone for shoveling your sidewalks
I usually prefer the bone-breaking risk of hurdles in the ice anyways

it was at this point that I decided if the ground was going to be this terrible,
I might as well run where it's pretty and no one will see me fall
(looking back, probably a bad idea)

so I went off course

and was astounded

who needs to feel their toes anyways?

I've always said, "You can turn anything into a workout!"
photographers, as proven in my photoshoot run, I have just eliminated your excuses for your obesity

it didn't matter anymore that every step risked a fatal fall

BECAUSE I FREAKIN LOVE SNOW
selfie shame

would you buy my calendar of snow-only pictures?
say yes, if only to appease my embarrassing amount of enthusiasm

by this point, the greater workout was my body's random
balance-jerks to try to stop myself from falling and breaking my tailbone

I had been gone for over an hour and had assumed my parents were worried sick

but then this happened and I forgot about that.

i had to climb on top of a tree to get this shot.
photographer swag.
and yes I just disgraced the title "photographer" by referring to myself as one.

sitting in my tree

praying

and thanking

and then returning to civilization
it's cool, i'll just go around.

tiny walkways

and snow-speckled home.
I came home figuring my parents had put out an Amber alert for me.
My dad looked at me and told me to put my shoes away.
I'm becoming more and more thankful for my alone moments with Him. This morning, after a twisty, turny, restless night, I awoke early and brought my Bible and a pen and paper to a distraction-free coffee shop and chose Him for two hours before church. He is easy to forget, easy to condense into ten minutes before bed, easy to put on the shelf when the world is sparkling white and our hearts are fluttering and the world seems peaceful.

But our God is not a ten-minute-only, shelf-sitting, forgotten God. And when we start to make Him one, He lovingly (still don't get how He does this lovingly) reminds us of who He is. Hey, Whit. Let me astound you for two hours. Let me overwhelm you with beauty on your run. Let me make you patient so you learn to wait for Me alone.

 He shook me out of a slumber I slipped into when break started. I'm thankful for His grace. I read the first 8 chapters of John this morning and was blown away. Jesus is astounding. He is the freaking manifestation of God! And He is here. I think back to Daniel when the "wise men" couldn't figure out what Nebuchadnezzar's dream was. They figured that no one could know it except for "the gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh" (Dan 2:11). But our God. He has come here. He walks among us. He dwells with us. Not to condemn the world, something we all deserve. But to save us. Oh, thank You Jesus.

Other minor thankfuls:

brothers hairy
and hawt

and family and breakfast and head things that keep my ears warm.


and the joys of living with brothers and their crap
(literal and figurative)

old family

and new ones.
Other life updates: The majority of my calories today came from refined sugars. I'm running a marathon in less than six months. I will be a bridesmaid two Saturdays in a row in the spring. I will start my last semester in a month. I definitely bought matching Christmas shirts to be twins with my cousin on the 25th. The only way I'm not cold at night is if I sleep under 5 blankets. I started reading my first journal from 8th grade and I will never show it to anyone. I've unfortunately reverted back to alliterative blog titles. I love coffee too much.

And I really, really love every sober and cheerful, bright and dim, red and green, romantic and cheesy, laughy and sentimental part of Christmas. Every single part.

Thank Him sometime. Remember the weight of His coming. He is too good to us.

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