Good morning! Happy Saturday!

Today’s scripture:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NRSV)

Everything Has Its Time

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

What can be said about this scripture that hasn’t already been said? The song even says it so well…but it is refreshing to reflect again…

One of my best friends in the whole wide world asked me to join her in her New Year’s resolution and I said yes, it would become mine as well. She asked if we could do a 5k a month together for the year 2016.Jenny has joined the resolution and the three of us have been working on finding one a month to schedule.  We started by going to Bend a few weeks ago to do a 5k. It was icy and cold. It was sunny and beautiful but it was hard to walk on the ice. Jenny and I decided to walk it because of the ice. We slipped and slid through. I even fell in the middle of it. It was nice to think of it as a stroll and we got our worst time yet. In the middle of winter we started our trek at 9am.

Yesterday we created our own 5k around our neighborhood to fulfill our February 5k.  Six of us walked or jogged our 3.1 miles around Northeast.  Even through my snot, I walked a minute then jogged a minute to reach one of my best times yet. In the break in the rain, we started our jog at 5:30 pm.

So far we are signed up for five 5ks…we have one set up for March in Corvallis in the middle of the day…April we are walking against MS…and in August we will be running through bubbles…so far. And what I find myself most excited about is the chance to jog through the spaces and the seasons. Each experience is a totally different one in a different setting in different weather. The prep is a little different as we prep for ice, rain, sun….do we need to layer?  Do I need my fleece? Head phones?

Last night as I jogged along I found myself by myself just processing.  It was that reflection time that I so yearned for yesterday. My therapist has done some reading lately that we process better when we are moving and this is becoming the perfect outlet for that as I train and prep and then run the race.  Through the seasons…there is a time for it all and as I jog along at my slow pace I just kept thinking…I can do anything for a minute. I can jog for a minute and then walk for a minute and think through it all. There is a time for everything.