Joyful Reunion

I'm so excited!

I just found a CD I've been missing for 2 or 3 weeks.  Need To Breathe-"Heat"  I took it out of our church library during the summer and when I wanted to play it, I discovered that the CD case was empty.   Did I lose it or was the case already empty when I borrowed it?    Why wouldn't I have played the CD right away?   I lost a CD and it wasn't even mine! 

I found it.   In a place I wouldn't have looked for it.  It was in a case with another CD. (U2-"No Line On the Horizon".)  It illustrates how quickly time passes and how far in the past my holidays have receded, which seems like AGES ago!  The CD has traveled to Ottawa and home again, and then to Thunderbay and home again.  It illustrates how absentminded I can be when I'm on my way to do one thing and get interupted and put thing one on hold, and then never resume the task when thing two is completed.  

Listening to it was like having a visit with a long absent friend.   Really.   It's part of the soundtrack of my life and brings back the memories and adventures that happened during that listening period.    Good, good times.   As my adoring public, I know you would want to know.   You were so supportive when I couldn't find my favourite sweater(in February!!), and celebrated appropriately when it turned up.  Party on, people!

Life is all about the little things.   I love celebrating the fun little things: getting snail mail, having coffee with a friend, finding a long lost CD, reuniting two socks from the single sock basket,  and then posting it here...because I know my lads won't find it nearly as exciting as you did.   And it affirms other people in their absentmindedness that they're not alone....

So, Jannette, I found it...and I  KNOW you would come to said party!

Here's The Thing....

Please....don't be too impressed by the fact that I run.    If I defined what my "running" actually is....and why I run????  You'd move right along.

I turned 40 once.   If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. Maybe it already happened to you. My Mom told me a long time ago that my metabolism would slow down when I turned 40.   Truer words were never spoken.    I was faced with a dilemma.  Stop eating chips OR start an exercise program.

The people who live here don't really go to the gym, unless they have a free membership. At our house, the exercise program is called "Ray's gym": You put on your runners and get out there.   BUT I can't run...(perhaps you correctly detect a bit of a whine in there....)  

And then I discovered "Couch to 5K in 8weeks".    The Couch was my starting point...that's where I eat chips.    5K didn't sound like a marathon.   And 8 weeks sounded like something I could stick to...it's not going take forever.   It didn't TAKE forever, but neither did it LAST forever.     I had to take some time off because I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder.    I stayed off.    And kept eating chips.

I was faced with the same dilemma: Stop eating chips or start running again.    A friend of mine announced that he was running 4K per day.   I was so impressed!!!!  And I was moved to start running again.    That was two weeks ago.    Today, I'm running 3's and 1's.   Run 3 minutes, and walk 1 minute....for 20 minutes...and in my case 3K.     In the grand scheme of things...that's REALLY slow. 

The important thing is....I can eat chips again!

Just Breathe

The other day I read a blog post somewhere about the unconscious activity of breathing.   Tampering with such a  natural process, and becoming conscious of it, can wreak havoc.    I was thinking of this the other day when I was running.    I use rhythmic breathing when I run...it helps to stave of the panic that I will run out of breath.   4 counts in, and 4 counts out, 4 counts in, 4 counts out.....and although my body screams for air, I stick to the rhythm knowing that I will quiet the scream with the next breath.   You can focus on the rhythm or you can focus on the panic.   

I cannot hold my breath and run.  I can possibly walk, and maybe do some work, but I can't run. Life is just like that. When I hold my breath, do I do that consciously or unconsciously?   How can the Spirit breathe into me when I'm holding my breath?  How can He move through me, when I'm not moving?  Some days I'm are stuck.  It happens.  You're waiting for something to come to pass.  You can't hear your song over the chaos.

When the situation in front of you has you contemplating your next breath, you know it's time to focus on something else.    And then I read "Trust Me and refuse to worry...for I am your Strength and Song."  Even on a tough day...you have to keep breathing.    The Song will come back, He never left!!  You just have to adjust your focus, in my case...that would be the eyes of my heart.   

If you are a praying people, now would be good!

This is where I run...

And then on my way home from an errand....this song comes on.