New Every Morning

For me there are few things I enjoy more than waking up to a sunny, crisp morning, knowing I get to spend some time running around the hills and nearby reservoir. It wasn't always that way. I remember wondering if running would ever get easier for me. "Would I always feel so slow and heavy?" I wondered as I plugged along down the dirt road past our house. I can still hear myself saying in my head that first day, that first mile, " just keep moving the whole mile...don't stop! You don't have to go fast, just keep going...." Each day I went out to run the my mileage I decided on, I would remind myself, "don't stop, if you stop, you won't want to keep running. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.." Each day I would come back, tired, tight legs, soak in a hot tub with Epsom salts and wonder if I would be able to move the next day. But each day, there was strength to get it done. As days went by and the miles increased, 5, 8, 10, miles, I was still telling myself, "don't stop, keep moving, one foot in front of the other..." and the strength to go on was there. Some days it was easier to run than others. Some days felt like I was on a treadmill...running and running, never getting anywhere. But whether I felt it or not there was enough energy to finish my miles. It soon occurred to me that love, joy, peace, happiness are all given to us fresh everyday by God just like physical energy. We have more the more we us it. He gives us forgiveness for our selfishness, our wrong choices if we ask for it every morning and then He encourages us, "Its a new day, get out there, put one foot in front of the other, you have enough to get it done." It reminded me of a verse in the Bible, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Psalms 3:22,23. Our faithfulness, the stength to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to do the righteous thing, depends on His mercy, His compassion. Now days, when I step into the sunshine, anticipating all that my run will bring me, I know without a doubt I will finish the miles, no matter how many, how hard, or how long it takes me I WILL finish...its a good feeling!