What I'm learning while I'm learning how to run (part 1)

I'm learning . . . the power of giving my word to something bigger than I can currently keep.

Almost exactly a year ago, I started going to the gym.  Around that same time, my hero Brene Brown said on her blog that she was going to use an iPhone app to train for a 5K and some crazy little voice in my head said, "If she can do it, I can do it."  I downloaded the app and started with the first assignment:  run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds.  I couldn't do it.

One thing you have to know is that originally I never planned to actually run a 5K.  I just wanted to build some capacity for exercise.  But pretty soon, panting around the walking path at the park, I decided to take it on and I gave my word to actually run in a 5K race if it killed me.  Which I thought it might.

It has taken me a year (yes, a solid freaking year) but I have finally grown into the word I gave, which is the point, right?  When I gave my word, I couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to complete 3 miles--which I did today.  Giving my word meant not having the option of saying "Never mind" when things got tough which somehow gave me what it took to keep going.

God used his word to create the world.  In his image, we use our word to create our lives.  There's real power in this.