Friday, July 12, 2013

Getting to the starting line

My sister Natalie expresses deep wisdom through one-liners.  Even though she is averse to social media, she pretty much tweeted before twitter was a thing by her innate ability to share profound and helpful teaching in 140 characters or less.  One of my favorite Natalie-isms has to do with her encouragement for marathon runners.  Her sage advice goes: "It's harder to get to the starting line than to to the finish line."  After running several marathons (actually, after the first one which I ran with both my sisters), I totally get it.  Running 26.2 miles is tough, no doubt, but those 4-5 hours spent on a traffic-free road with people running in front, behind, and next to you -- while others are cheering you on from the side-lines and handing you Gatorade and food -- are not nearly as grueling as the 100+ hours you spent training alone in the heat, cold, and rain - when there was no one to replenish you along the way and cars didn't so much as slow down as they squeezed you off the road.

So that's what this blog is about: getting to the starting line and embracing (or bracing for) the adventure that follows.  It's about being intentional to try new things and reflect on what happens after the intention and decision have been made.  As the Indigo Girls croon in their oldie but goodie A Hammer and a Nail, "The sweetest part [of life] is acting after making a decision."

Sometimes that means showing up at the starting line of a major race or, in the case of my new practice, it means getting to the yoga studio.  I have begun practicing yoga on a more-than-occasional, but less-than-regular basis in the last year.  A friend who trains yoga instructors recently gifted me with my first mat.  This morning as I was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the computer screen for several minutes without actually reading or writing anything, an internal voice broke through my haze of de-motivated sleepiness and said, "stand up, take your mat, and walk."  

And I did.  I picked up my new-to-me mat and walked out the door in the sunshine to the yoga studio that is located conveniently around the corner.  The next hour and 15 minutes were spent developing my new practice and being thankful for an opportunity to stretch and grow stronger.

The hardest part, as with most things, was listening and responding to the voice that invited me to get up.  But once I did, goodness - perhaps even healing and growth! - followed; at least that's what happened for the invalid man to whom Jesus said those same words in John Chapter 5 ("Stand up, take your mat, and walk").  But I will save that story for another post.  For now, it is enough to have reached the starting line.