Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
I am running
and God is running in me.
God is breathing deep and steady,
down in the darkness secretly
changing the air into life in me.
God is thumping in my chest,
pulling life through me, all of me.
God is taking a pounding down there,
feet slapping the road over and over,
never complaining, slender ankles
faithfully taking all my weight.
God is my sweat, pouring out of me
like love, like light.
God, you are that miraculous alchemy,
that unchoreographable dance
of oxygen, nerve firings, glucose,
adrenaline, muscle memory and will.
You are my momentum,
my balance, my movement,
my stamina.
Even when I’m awkward or tired
you are graceful in me,
strong and elegant and unflagging.
You are the push up the hill,
and you are the hill.
When I am exhausted you are still
running in me, my body knowing
how to run, bearing me along gamely.
You are the sprint at the end,
the push from within, the rush,
the release.
And you are my tiredness,
my gasping for air, for life, for God.
You are running and resting,
my feet and my finish line.
All day cells will adapt, bones resolve,
metabolism change, muscles renew.
What is “fitness,” but God happening?
Now I am done running.
I am reading poetry.
And God is in me…
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com