The Moon and the Morning Air

My alarm went off at 5am calling me to my scheduled morning run. I had decided to run a few circuits through Purgatory Park as a fairly safe means of getting back on the trails after a short illness. I needed to get myself back in my runner’s groove. By 5:35am I was standing on the edge of the park trail waiting for my watch to find the satellites – or whatever it does when I turn it on. Then off I trotted up the first little slope and around the turn into the darkness with my headlamp illuminating a few feet just ahead of me; darkness with an incredible moon over the early sky. There was a holy silence and hush and just my feet crunching on the ice. Air was calm with 19F, crisp and cold along a largely open trail with some patches of hard, irregular ice to navigate with much care. I covered just over 5 miles in four laps at a breathless pace of 13.01 minutes per mile. OK, not so breathless, I was being very careful on the ice and running in the dark. Anyway, I did climb to my off-road highpoint in the park on each of the laps, and this allowed me to log 688 feet ascending and 671 feet descending. Not a lot, but enough to keep me from becoming a slacker. The run was just the right mix of adventure and effort and discipline to get me back in my running zone. Now I just need to take this forward day-by-day; a daily strength.

In my readings this morning King David was reflecting on his enemies, and concludes:

But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.
[Psalm 59:16-17]

In Him I find the strength for a day and a run and any challenge that God lays before me. In Him I run and sing and whisper my prayers on the morning air. And in Him I find a treasure of far more worth than any trail run or race or achievement a man might claim. I find the Lord of All, and I find His steadfast love. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” [1 John 4:10] Oh, the sweet comfort of these words. Even as I run my race, I have this confidence that my way is not dependent on me, but wholly remains with my Lord. As I make my way along a thousand trails through a thousand stands of trees and underbrush, as I worship with my eyes and ears and run amazed at the spectacular glories of creation, I run confident in Him and His steadfast love. Oh friend, come along and run this race with me. And let us sing of His wonders together!