3 Minutes

Hidden deep within me is a runner, just dying to get out.

Does that surprise you?  It surprises me, too.

Normally, I hate to sweat.  That's one reason that exercising has been so hard for me.  I despise getting dressed, going to work out, sweating, coming home and have to shower and get dressed all over again.

But a few years ago, my friend Sandra introduced me to the Couch 2 5K program that gets you from sedentary to running 3.1 miles in just 9 weeks.  I was leery at first, but with her encouragement, I participated in the program, and actually ran (well, if you could call it that) my first, and only, 5K.

However, time and circumstances changed and I quit running, and I have missed it.

Every time I see someone running on my road, or running at the park, something stirs within my heart and whispers, "That could be me!"

And yesterday at the gym, while walking on the treadmill, I thought, "Why not just bump up the speed and see if you can still do it?  Just try it for one minute, just ONE minute." 

So I did.  And I ran that one minute.  And then slowed down and rested.  And then ran another minute.  And then another.

3 whole minutes of running.

I was almost in tears.  I was out of breath, but I was also in heaven!

It might not sound like much to someone that runs marathons, but you know what?  Everyone has to start somewhere, and I started yesterday.

One minute at a time.  Not one MILE at a time.

This journey is basically coming down to just that, one minute at a time.  I'm beginning to look at my whole life in that way.  Not what can I accomplish in a month or a year from now, but what can I do in the next minute?  After all, our whole lives are made up of moments, right? 

The Bible study that I'm currently leading is called "The Best Yes," by Lysa TerKeurst, and in this session we just covered she says, "Time is an anchor for the world." 

I've been thinking about time, how much do I waste, how wisely do I spend what I've been given?  And what am I going to do with this next minute in front of me?

Today, I'm choosing to celebrate those 3 minutes of time that God helped me awaken that desire deep within, that hidden dream to run free like the wind.  And to carve out more of those moments to accomplish the dream of running in a race. 

And it will happen, one minute at a time.