Choosing Joy...and Barefoot Running!

A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see our friend David (the pastor who married us!) give a dramatic presentation of Paul's letter to the Phillipians. It was incredible to watch...he had that entire book of the Bible memorized, and presented it in period costume. He titled his presentation "Choose Joy," which fits the nature of Paul's message perfectly. Paul lived at the time of Christ and has a pretty amazing story...going from persecuting the early Christians to becoming one of the most important figures in early teaching and spreading of the gospel...and in sharing that gospel for all time throug the bible. His life was full of challenge and reasons NOT to "choose joy"...he suffered from a "thorn in his flesh" (though we aren't told what exactly this was), was shipwrecked, and spent considerable time in prison for his beliefs to name a few. But in his writing, the joy that he feels in his mission for Christ is evident. In the past few months, too, we have witnessed Dave "choosing joy" as he has faced a recurring battle with cancer but remained always cheerful, always positive.

It's been a bit of a rough week for me (H) in the professional area of my life (fortunately the personal is awesome!) I work with wonderful people and for the most part like my job, but in the past several weeks the number of sad cases I've seen has been almost overwhelming, and some personal conflict that is out of my control has reared its head (which it does periodically). My initial reaction is almost always to be upset, worry, and dwell on the issue to the point where I feel almost physically unwell. It took a while for me to put the pieces together and understand how much my brain controls well being! The cool thing about this week is that by focussing on the right things....which for me means prayer, reflecting on the truths of the Bible, and choosing to "choose joy," I've been able to turn the negative around and truly feel peace and joy. That feeling is so cool. Now if only I can get to the point where my initial reactions of worry and upset wouldn't even happen! Work in progress :)

I often find that running in nature helps me to reflect, pray, and be joyful...I guess being out in creation can do that :) Lucy and I had a great week of barefoot running up at Pinery (Andrew was in Montreal so he missed out. Next week!) 1:15 on Tuesday and 2 hours this morning left us both grinning, Lucy panting, and me with sore but happy feet. This morning was incredible! There were thousands of ladybugs clustered along driftwood and the higher shoreline (mating? dying? just hanging out? Must consult Wikipedia for that one!) One very saucy seagull kept pace with us but just ahead, causing lots of flat out chasing by Goosey. Tee hee :) It's pretty hard to not be inspired to choose joy watching Lucy and her love of life and the simple things!

Happy weekend, all :)