Day 2: "Vacation Mode" and Trail Running

I have this little friend.  He goes by multiple alias'.  Some more common ones would be "Stressed Out", "Post-partum", or "PMS".  

Today he is known as "Vacation Mode".  

"Vacation mode" can be a good friend, bringing much needed rest and respite from the normal daily grind.  But "Vacation Mode" is not good at knowing his boundaries.

Or, I am not always good at setting them for him.  What starts as rest or moderate indulgence, sometimes known as "flexibility", can quickly turn into laziness and binging.  Before I know it, I am finding another excuse to make one more trip towards the kitchen so I can sneak one more cookie.  I'm not even sure I really like these particular cookies, but they are there, and I am with "Vacation Mode" so they inevitably call my name.

Pitiful, I know.  Why is it that home can feed the soul in so many ways other places cannot, but can also awaken the sleeping beasts you have spent so much time and energy taming.  Hmmm.

So toady, I woke up and decided..."Enough!"  I'm kicking "Vacation Mode" to the curb, slapping on my running shoes and fanny pack, because I'm cool like that (and there are snakes in them thar woods...where else would you keep your cell phone, people?) and hittin' the trails!

I love running in these woods I called home for so long.  Somehow I feel closest to myself when I am here.  With every labored step I take over rocks and roots, I come another step closer to my center.  And pensive.  Always pensive.  And in this season of menial task and labor, that alone is a gift.

These woods are where I learned to listen to silence...and hear the birds, the katydids and cicadas.

The path is not always obvious.  It is sometimes difficult to discern, but always subtly there.  As long as I fix my eyes on the place marked out before me, I will find my way.

There are times when I get so distracted by my surroundings that I loose the trail a bit.  Sometimes it is hard to distinguish depending on who has come before...a storm, a fellow trail-blazer, or a native creature.

There are sections of the trail that are smooth and paved, and sections that are so rocky I have to slow my pace significantly to pick my way through.

There are opportunities to blaze my own trail.  This is always exhilarating at the very least, but I have to take into account the brambles and thorns that threaten to grab hold.  I still come out in the same general direction, but not unmarred by the journey.

This is the reward for a hard job done well...and it is worth the climb!

"When I want to take God at his Word exactly, I take a peep out the window at His Creation.  Because that, darling, He makes fresh for us every day, without a lot of dubious middle managers."

Tata Fowells, from The Poisonwood Bible by Barabara Kingsolver

So here's to running the trail...and putting "Vacation Mode" in his place!

I'm sure he will come crawling back with a peace offering of treats sooner or later.  But until then...

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Colossians 3:1-4