Balance

Georgia enjoying the fresh snow

Running on two inches of fresh snow is one of my favorite things to do. It's so nice and soft. Add pristine and playful into the mix and you have the best possible running surface. Fresh snow even smells good. It's kind of like walking through a trail of fallen leaves in the autumn when you walk without lifting your feet too far off the ground. It's tough to describe, but it's wonderful to experience.

I was just over 2 miles into my 7.5 mile run on the 180th Street trail when the powdery snow covered an enemy of the runner: ice. Before I knew it, I was on my bottom. My hands took some of the force. My bottom, which currently has a zip lock bag full of ice on it, took most of the force. I popped up like a slice of burnt toast, probably mostly to prevent my ego from being bruised any more than it already was. I continued running. A little sore at first, but then I was fine. I turned around at the halfway point. A mile or two after that I saw the markings in the snow of a fallen runner who lost his balance while enjoying the snow a little too much.

Life is like that as well. Snow is beautiful and fun, but it can also be dangerous. Jesus made wine sacred, Paul told Timothy to chill out and drink a glass of wine to relax, and researchers even tell us that wine has health benefits. But drunkenness can ruin families and lives. Money can feed the poor, put a roof over our head, get us from point A to point B, and generally help people enjoy and live life. An excess love of money produces greed, envy, and a list of other ills too long to mention. Sex is God's idea. At it's best it is sacred and holy and is God's way of telling us that the world should go on. At it's worst it is profane and ugly. Instead of bring people together is tears them apart. The laughter is replaced by tears. And so it is with food, humor, running, leadership, and many other things / areas of life.

Enjoy the blessing, but don't lost your balance because blessedness can turn into brokenness.