Walking/jogging can be dangerous to your health. At least if you have an eighty pound golden retriever and a seven pound morkie jogging with you.
Yesterday we were running along at a pretty comfortable pace, a dog on each side of me. Jessie (the 10 year old golden) was lagging behind me just a bit, but not interfering with my pace. Lilly, was happily running beside me. I was going along just great, enjoying the early morning, happy that this routine seemed to have become pretty simple. When out of nowhere, I was jolted back with such force that I fell backwards to the ground. Eighty pound Jessie had decided that she was done running and had abruptly sat down.
I gained a new understanding of the word “inertia” – the tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line motion to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. Clearly, Jessie’s inertia to stay put and my inertia to stay in motion collided and resulted in a painful fall.
But that was yesterday. Today I was prepared for her possible inclination to stop cold on our run. And she did. But this time I didn’t fall. I was ready and on guard. I gave her a moment to breathe and then we again picked up the pace and kept going.
This led to me feeling confident. Maybe even cocky. What is the saying, “pride comes before a fall”? I should have known. Minutes later it wasn’t Jessie, but tiny Lilly who somehow wrapped her leash around my legs and literally brought me to my knees, resulting in a hole in my pants, a bloodied leg and a scraped wrist. It wasn’t her inertia that threw me off. It was the entanglement of a misguided leash.
Walking/jogging isn’t what caused my falls. It was the unexpected jolts and the things I got myself wrapped up in.
Doesn’t that sound a lot like what happens in life, particularly in our walk of faith? We seem to be going along just fine. We know the path. It feels familiar and safe. We expect turns and bumps along the way. But then a jolt happens and it brings us down. Throws us off. Keeps us from moving forward and maybe even pulls us back.
And then the choice is ours. Do we sit there and wallow in the pain and decide that “walking” is too hard, too dangerous? Will we refuse to move forward and use all our inertia to stay put in the same spot we fell?
Or will we get back up, wipe the dirt and blood from our knees and try again, wiser and more prepared for such things? Will we use our inertia to continue forward – in a continuous motion that propels us?
When we get entangled with things that trip us up, will we sit there with tears in our eyes thinking the knots are too big to undo? Or will we detangle ourselves one knot at a time to free our feet to walk again?
Walking, both literally and figuratively, is a good thing. It keeps us healthy and strong and alive. We don’t need to be afraid of walking. We just need to be aware of where we are walking and the unexpected things that may hinder our progress and keep us from moving.
The good news is, we never have to walk alone. We get to link arms with the One who knows the path we are on and offers to light the path and make it straight for us so we know where to go. And when we do fall off the path, or even fall ON the path, He is right there to help us get back up and keep going. He is the constant inertia that remains steadfast and unchanging and at the same time moves forward with us. Amazing.
I think tomorrow morning I might just go running with Him instead of the dogs. Seems so much safer. 🙂
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
