Sweat drips off my ponytail and slides down my back, where it hits the waistband of my shorts and is absorbed. It's barely nine o'clock, and the heat index has already soared to 100 degrees. I run, trudge, really down the greenway searching eagerly for the mile marker. C is sleeping and A reads. Finally, I see it, just past the bridge. Four miles! I have run four miles!
While it might seem a small accomplishment to someone who just 1 1/2 years ago ran an entire marathon, it is my first four miler since having C . And, I did it despite the heat. I step across the line painted onto the trail and raise my hands, "Praise God." Then begins my little celebration. I dance a few steps, while thinking, "I am Mommy; hear me roar!!! I did it; I did it; I'm awesome." I'm so excited that I even call my husband from the trail. "I ran four miles today," I exclaim breathless from my celebratory dance. "That's awesome," he responds, knowing how much that little accomplishment means to me.
Then I see something up ahead that catches my eye. A woman running with a double jogger similar to mine. She is pushing two children about A 's age, maybe a bit older. AND she has a dog. She is running with two children AND A DOG. I just ran with two children. My golden retriever is home lying under the table on the patio wondering if she could actually dig under the patio for cooler ground. I lower my head and nod sheepishly as she passes, hoping that if she saw the celebration dance that perhaps she thought I had just run 50 miles, not that it really matters what she thinks. "We're not there, yet," I say as she passes, and honestly unless Dell starts running herself probably won't be for a long time. She smiles....Ms. Superfit....and I realize that whenever you pray for a more humble attitude, God answers, sometimes right in the middle of you puffing up your chest and shaking your tailfeathers. And while I believe God celebrates my accomplishment with me, I think there are times I need to be reminded that my ability and accomplishment come from His grace alone:)
Colossians 3:12
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
