It's the most wonderful time of the year

Today I survived my first half-marathon race. Actually, it was the first time I've ever run that far in my life. [Yeah, I know, not an advisable training strategy.] It was a total blast, and as the heat bore down on me around mile eight at India Point Park, the race seemed to me a fitting end to one of the most bizarre summers of my life, and a great kick off to the foggy semester ahead. 

And oh, it was so hard to believe when I smelled the salt on the harbor breeze and when I rubbed the grass in the finishers' village and when I melted in the heat reflecting off the Gtech building, but the signs were all around. The shorter days, the budding acorns, the sale displays in the shop windows; fall is coming. 

New England is the best place to be, I don't think I could ever leave it during fall. Brisk air on my cheeks. Wood smoke in the air. Leaves turning. Apple picking. Corn mazes. Fog on the fields in the morning. Walks in the woods, nature exploration. Sweaters. Scarves. Lots of layers. Oranges and yellows and purples and browns. 

And time in the kitchen. Pumpkin-spice everything. Pumpkin-spice muffins, pumpkin-spice coffee, pumpkin-spice pancakes, cupcakes, cookies, pumpkin-spice French toast, pumpkin-spice bagels, pumpkin-spice froyo. Everything. Apple cider. Tangy black tea. The most satisfying soup weather. Scituate Art Festival vendor food. Halloween candy. 

Back to school. The brain revving that comes after a restful summer break. Getting inspired over new course material, before it starts to get dreary and stressful. Beginning new notebooks. Reorganizing files. Repacking backpacks. Meeting new professors, befriending new classmates, new opportunities to live Him large.

New season, new goals, new to-do list. Summer? It's been real. And it's hard to say good-bye, but the regency of fall makes it possible. 

Pride & Prejudice

People wound people with their misunderstandings and their hasty judgments and their callous assessments and thoughtlessly spoken words. Their good intentions sometimes crumble into ill-advised decisions. Their unripe opportunities sometimes implode under the uncommunicated resentment.

Sometimes everything is so close to going wonderfully amiss. 

And sometimes, when they chose vulnerability over pride, transparency over prejudice, when they seek others above themselves, when they examine themselves with humility, when they swallow the consequences their judgements have concocted . . .

Then, sometimes, people end up completely and perfectly and incandescently happy.

Nehemiah 8:10

When the weight on my chest forces out a heavy sigh during my solitary car rides. When I can't force my eyes to crack open in the dark at the sound of my alarm. When my patience and fortitude is mercilessly sapped by the people I seek to love. When I am so mired in my confusion that I don't know the right way to move forward. 

I must remember, I must not forget . . .

You have been called for joy. 

When I sing along with revelation songs at the top of my lungs in my soul-mending car rides. When my eyes snap open to catch the opportunities in a new day. When I am spilling over from the Creator's love for His creation. When I am shrouded in clarity and hedged by a path from which my steps will never falter. So I will walk in the way set before me.

"Father, put Your loves in my heart, and steel me to choose them."

He is bigger, He is greater, He is my refuge and my salvation. The joy of the LORD is my strength, so I face the darkness and heaviness with no need to grieve.