where waves grow sweet

But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Well, I just signed up for a half marathon in February which I will be walking, not running. Maybe that’s cheating, but it’s what I’ve got and I’m going with it. It’s hard to say exactly why I feel compelled to pay money to walk really far, but I do and I’m going with that too.

Here’s the funny thing. It was on one of my recent walks to the beach – on the crappy part when I’d walked like 8 miles and was almost home yet a seeming eternity away – that I decided I wanted to walk even farther. Maybe it’s because I’m learning to see some of the hard stuff as a journey; as something not only to push through but to gain from.

After deciding on this one in February, I came across another one in May, and decided it made much more sense to put it off. I mean, I have been very busy and the holidays are coming, and more time is better, right? My head said absolutely yes, but my heart said heck no.

I am coming to recognize this voice as good and wise and decidedly inspired by God because I am neither good nor wise. When I listen to it – this voice that overrides fears and doubts and laziness, that calls me into quietness and then up out of it – there is never regret; only joy.

So I went ahead with the one in February and will do what I can with the time I’ve got. Who knows, maybe by May I’ll be ready to walk the whole darn marathon. Probably not. But what I do know is that I will continue to listen to the voice of the Lord until I know it as well as my own and until I follow it more faithfully.