I was a the YMCA today running around the track and i was outside myself.
There i was trying to focus on my ministry and also trying to figure out my sense of dullness i feel right now. I know its that time of year and its dark and depressing, and it’s cold and we get stuck indoors. But I don’t want to live that way. I don’t want to have to spend my whole life dredging through 2-3 months out of the year. My joy comes from more than just sunny days, jogs outside, and warm nights. My joy is SUPPOSED to come from Christ but i admit a lot of the times it doesn’t. When i think to myself in those moments of dredge i try to look to the next big thing or exciting thing that is going to happen. Not often do i just look inside.
Well, on accident today i did. I just got down running 2.5 miles around the track. Its a small track so it takes 10 laps (which i feel is not correct otherwise i have gotten slower) to complete one mile. Then when i was done i jump on a exercise bike that sat right off the back end of the turn of the track. That is where i looked inside. First i thought about the yellowish glow of light (which i admit it better than most places like this) and how different it is running here than it is outside. Then i felt bad for all of us who were stuck inside. Then i thought about the bike i was pedaling hard on. But i was going no where.
That’s because i feel like we have lost our sense of adventure. No longer do we go on bike rides through the hills and parks that surround us and no longer to a go on jogs down paths through tree’s or society. But inside i pedal in place and i run in a small blue circle.
Now i know it’s winter but we tend to do that all year. And its not just with running or biking but its with our careers and our family vacations and our Saturdays and family times. We just go with the flow and with what seems to make sense. No adventure, no spontaneity. I feel like we as a society have lost our joy and turned it in for convenience.
Lord God, please restore that sense of adventure in me i had in college. Press on me in every situation and place i am in to see the joy, excitement, opportunity, and creativity around me. I pray that for all people out there. To loosen their belts and just remember how life can be fun. What laughter sounds like, how it feels to make a new friend or help someone out. Lord God, please fill us with your Spirit because when we trade in our adventure for convenience i thinks its easier to run on empty with you as well. And my pipes are rusting out.
