Feet to Run in Rugged Places

In the part of the country that I live in, it should look like this outside my back patio:

But it doesn't. It looks like this:

It SHOULD look like winter, still, however, it is much more reminiscent of Fall.

Yesterday was one of those days where an issue was brought back up to my mind and I went, "Oh no. I absolutely do not want to deal with this again. I thought I was over it."
In an attempt to improve my mood, I started looking through writings that I did earlier this year for when the blog was hypothetical and I was just writing to "backlog" things, in case this little To Tame the Wolf ever happened.
I came across this one entry that I wrote earlier this Fall. And since it looks more like Fall outside, rather than winter, and since I needed to remind myself of the lesson in this entry, I thought it was only appropriate that I post this now.

Note that a few of the references I make are to things I have not published yet ("the 'I am your Alpha' thing" and "that things I wrote about Dominion a few months ago."), so I hope it doesn't confuse you too much. I am sure I will post about those soon, too, but for now I don't think it should hinder you from understanding what I am talking about.

Without further ado, here is an old post to me, but a new one to you. Enjoy.

It will come as no surprise that the dogs joined me on my run this morning.


Ethel



Lucy

I like having them there. I somehow feel a little more protected and I always am reminded about the whole “I am your Alpha” thing; because I usually have to yell at them to not eat each other.

Anyway.

This morning my run was a little different in that the yard where I usually run abuts up to a field. This year there were soybeans planted all in it which also means that it was off-limits for runs. I would lie if I said I never took a walk through the rows, but runs might have been a little too detrimental. Well, because it is fall, a few weeks ago the soybeans got harvested.

I would also be lying if I said that I have gone running since then.

But since the field now lies open, I took my run a little off-roading today.

Do you have any idea how that affects your legs? Let’s just say I lay on the floor for like ten minutes before I got in the shower.

As the dogs were running beside me this morning I was reminded about that thing I wrote about Dominion a few months ago. You know, I can run pretty good down my long driveway and all over my great huge green yard, but that uneven ground and those more-than-rolling hills made me realize that there are a lot of muscles I DO NOT have dominion over. Yet.

My brain is funny in that I can’t see a cupcake or a great outfit or go on a wooded run without equating the observations I take from those and apply them to my spiritual life. So there I was, panting away, taking more breaks than normal in that amount of time, and challenging myself with “What rugged areas in my life do I not have dominion over, or do I not even realize are there?” I had no idea what the ground looked like in that field when there were soybeans covering it and I know I am the same way. I have to be. I absolutely cannot tell myself that I have it all together. I know that would be a lie.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” I John 1:8

I wonder if I would be shocked, or maybe just find myself out of breath, if the “soybeans” in my life were ripped out and I saw the terrain that was rugged enough to grow them? What kind of soil produces weeds in my life, and am I cultivating soil to only grow the good stuff? Am I active in the sowing process in not only the lives of others, but my own as well?

A lot of times when I run I will take my phone with me, just in case something would happen and I would need it, but this morning I didn’t. As I was tooling around this field the thought crossed my mind, “What if I break my ankle? No one will know that I am here! Why don’t I have my phone!?!?” In its absence I prayed the words, “Lord, give me feet strong enough to run in these rugged places.”

It would have been really easy for me to do one loop and go, “You know, I think I’ll go back to running on the driveway. I don’t get out of breath there.” How similar that statement is to my life, I know it. Life can get pretty easy on the treadmill. It doesn’t take too much oomph to exert dominion on the pathways that go around and around and around. Those spots that are a been-there-done-that. I think I have tricked myself into thinking that dominion on the treadmills of my life are enough. I need to claim dominion in all areas that aren’t his. I know it isn’t as easy do live out as it is to type about it, and sometimes my legs cramp and I get out of breath or feel downright nauseous. He needs control in everything and I can’t be satisfied with my performance until he is.

Oh, but I sigh and I know I have got some rugged places. EVEN if I can’t see them yet. 

 Lord God, give my spiritual feet the strength to run in those rugged places, and the will to go back to show them exactly who is boss in this life.

YOU.