Until We Be Caught and Loved

My greatest obstacle to getting out for a run this morning was me. I lay there in bed drifting just above consciousness. I was so comfortable, so… drifting… very comfortable; just right. What’s that? Run? Ah… drifting…, well I’m laying here, you see, and… At some point in my dream-like deliberations I knew it was go or stay. It was time to commit to an action. I quickly chose the run before I slipped irretrievably back into my sleepy sea of thought. Out of bed and down the hall, downstairs, get ready, grab some water, and out the door. It was 53F with a clear sky and calm, and it was 6:59am. It seems that I had exchanged one perfect dream for another. This was a wonderful morning for a run. And down the road I ran.

I headed for my nearby Birch Island Park to do an hour or two of trails and hills. Just easy, I told myself, I did a longer run a few days ago. So today was for the pleasure of it. Looking back, I stuck to this plan. Jeepers, I must have been walking! Actually, I wasn’t, but I did stop a number of times just to take it all in. It was a day to behold the grand scale of the world and the little details that enchant us almost daily. I was out here to run. Sure, I was keeping my pace easy. Somehow it took me 1:59 hours to cover 7.21 miles. Like I said, a very easy pace. Maybe it was because I was listening to a great sermon by Jordan Thomas entitled, “Apart from Christ, Let Nothing Dazzle You.” The message is very thought-provoking and upward-calling. I replay it from time-to-time to challenge myself and drive myself further into a love of God. Still, there were perhaps other reasons why I was likely distracted this morning. Maybe it was the mist across the marsh or the dew-covered spider web in the morning light or the sunny birches on the trail or the red cardinal hopping along the path or the red locomotive or a myriad other images to captivate me and call me more deeply into a pursuit of little things much larger than myself. And yes, my pursuit of God – or more clearly stated, His pursuit of me.

Oh, I may think that it is me that pursues Him, but really it is He that pursues me. Yes, there are the many details that lovingly distract us and intrigue us, that chase our hearts until we be caught and loved. So I find myself running these trails and observing such designs of a world created to showcase the great I AM; and it does this in the littlest details, God-declaring details, glorious. When I look closely, I find Him. When I stand back and take in the whole of a night sky, I find Him. He has made this all to draw me into Him, to see Him and His worth more clearly and magnificently. Every detail cries out. This world reflects but a sliver of His brilliance, but it does reflect, and it is overwhelming to me. Along these trails, up the ascents and down the descents I turn these meditations over in my mind. Someday I will see much clearer, but today I will run. I will look for His radiance across the sky or in the beauty of a woodland flower. Come along, let’s run together. The road is long, and we are called to run hard and true. We better get moving. There is so much to see.