Throw Back Your Shoulders (and Breathe!)

It's raining this morning. I'm committed to this wunning thing, but I'm not that committed. So I'm going to write about wunning without actually wunning in the wain...I mean rain. (I feel like I'm turning into Elmer Fudd!) I have to be honest. Wunning has been very, very hard the last few times. Do I say that every week?! One of the challenges is that my legs often last longer than my lungs. I run out of breath before I run out of steam. I remember asking my friend Rhonda the Real Runner about this problem. She said, "Amy, are you running slouched over? When you feel out of breath, lift up your head, throw your shoulders back and give your lungs room to expand." Now that's good advice. For life. Lots on times when rat race gets hard, I find that I'm chugging through life with my head down, focusing on the ground I'm covering and feeling defeated. I'm slumped over huffing and puffing for dear life. Scripture says that the Lord is the lifter of our head. He calls us to run through life with our head up and our eyes fixed on the goal--Jesus Himself. I need to command my soul to bless Him and to throw back my shoulders to remind myself of Truth to let my spirit expand with a breath of His Spirit. I need to straighten my posture, strengthened with the Truth about God... He is compassionate. He is love. He is sovereign, and nothing that happens to me has gone unnoticed or undirected by Him. He is faithful. He is full of grace and mercy. He knows everything. He owns everything. He sees everything. His forgiveness is sufficient. His grace is lavish. His mercy is abundant. And then I also need to be strengthened with some truths about myself... I am holy and dearly loved. I am God's own child. I am forgiven. I am under grace. God delights in me. God loves me. God sings over me. Mercy! Now those are all things that make me want to take a deep breath of God Himself and keep running the race.