Words

I love words. I always have. As a child I used to look through the dictionary to find new words. Even now, I love to write, use new words and to play word games...it's just my thing. So, you can imagine that an email advertisement for a "word of the year" necklace would get my attention (http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/). Now the dilema, what would my word be? Only one word out of all the words in the world, I have to pick just one. Hope, joy, renew, bloom, grace...so many words came to mind. And then a word snuck into my consciousness, GLORY. Growing up, my Mom would say "morning, glory!" to me when I woke in the mornings. Glory means great, adoring praise and I have much to praise God for this year. Another definition says it means absolute contentment and I pray for contentment so I can bloom where I am planted. Allow the Lord to renew my strength, while continuing to have hope, and being filled with joy. All this by the grace of God!

Running

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

I am not a runner! Oh, there was that time years and years ago, when I was dating a runner and in my co-dependent state decided that I would be a runner too. But co-dependency can only take you so far where running is concerned. My daughter, Kristina is a runner...an elite runner at that. She runs marathons at a blistering pace (under 7 minute miles) and she trains hard to do so and it shows.

So this verse got me thinking about training and running the race...the one that will get me a crown that will last forever. I am going to start today to train, putting my focus on running in such a way as to get the prize. So glad I don't have to put on my Nikes to do so!