St. Elmo's Fire

So, I love this song. A lot. Any time I've heard it on the radio I immediately am lifted out of a bad mood, bad day, bad moment and transported to a happy place. When I run and I hear this song, I run faster and with a huge smile on my face. I'm sure my knees are high in the air too and I look like an idiot, but, MAN, I cannot help myself! What a song of inspiration! Yesterday, I was not in the mood to run. I am having some knee pain brought on by a bike wreck. Just to make you smile a bit today, I will give you the details of the bike wreck, although it is not entirely relevant to the post, but, even as painful as it was and is, I'm sure it was pretty hilarious to witness. I live near federally protected wetlands, i.e. lots of wildlife, i.e. GEESE. I have a hunting dog who has never, to our knowledge, actually been hunting. However, she has those hunting instincts still. I frequently ride my bike with the two kiddos around the wetlands and back home. While we were riding along, I kept vigilant. I must see the geese before Jena does so that I can walk her and the bike, avoiding an accident. This day, right next to a busy street and a Walgreens, Jena spies a goose on the top of a small hill; I did not spy the same goose. And, due to my failed vigilante skills, was dragged up and over my bike, across a sidewalk and up a hill. I mean literally I went up off the seat and landed on my knee and we kept going. The kids, thinking this was a game, were clapping and laughing; Kennedy was signing 'more' and Jackson was laughing so hard I thought he would pee his pants.
It would take me a few weeks to see the hilarity in this, but now, thinking back, it probably was funny to see. The wreck itself was a 3-fold lesson. First, no matter how hard you train them, dogs that are meant to hunt, will always seek out something to hunt; they do what they are meant to do. We can learn a lot from dogs. I have to aggressively pursue what I'm meant to do and I know what that is.
Second, God does not always provide a soft landing in life. Life is rarely easy, for anyone. Life can hurt, but we keep going. Yes, I hurt my knee, but, that cannot stop me from running my race. I must continue to run, slowing down a bit to heal, but I must run this race. I am committed and am not quitting!

Third, we have to laugh at things, no matter how tough. This was not funny to me in the least bit, but to see how hard my kids laughed, brought a smile to my face. I have to laugh when things do not go as planned because that is how we keep going. We keep going with a friend, a loved one, a community of faith, that will find the humor in dismal situations, to help us feel better.

To wrap up, I want to revisit what I said in the beginning. I was not in the mood to run. I could have chosen to stay home and whine about how my knee hurts, but I didn't. Brett (my husband) said, "Go ahead. You need to go for a run." That is so true. I cannot quit, in spite of the pain, I have to go on and run. I cannot give up when things do not go as planned or as I want them to go. I have to let go. "I can climb the highest mountain. I can cross the widest sea. I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me." My St. Elmo is running the marathon and becoming a midwife. It is a calling, "a burning in me", and I must listen. I trust that God knows my path up the highest mountain and the direction across the widest sea. I just need to listen.