I'M ALIVE!!! - Now Choose Life

Yes, that’s snow on the tops of the mountains!!

What started out to be a quick Instagram/ Facebook post suddenly became a blog post while I was out for a morning run/walk!! Funny how that happens sometimes!!

It is a beautiful day in the mountains of New Mexico today. After dealing with some health issues for the past few months, I have gotten out twice this week to attempt (once again) to get back into some form of a running life!! I’m still not 100%, but I’m so much better than I was. It felt so good to be out in nature today. Here are some random thoughts that I have to get out of my head!!

Over the years, a mantra that I’ve said to myself while out running (and at times out just participating in LIFE) is “I’m Alive.” That phrase carried so much meaning with it today. I know what it feels like to feel dead inside. I know what it feels like to be a walking corpse. I lived that way for many, many months after R passed away. It is hard to put one foot in front of the other when we are living with a constant, heavy heart. I’m reminded of how far I’ve come but also reminded of what it feels like to be living that way because my cousin’s 29-year-old son died yesterday. This death on the heels of a high school friend of Dr. T’s losing his son about a month ago had me thinking about LIFE today. Trying to imagine the unimaginable that these families are going through was where I found myself out on my run this morning.

With each pounding of my foot on the pavement this morning, I was reminded that I’m ALIVE!! How lucky I am to be alive today! How lucky I am that although life certainly isn’t perfect, things in my world are pretty good today. My children and their significant others are happy and healthy! My family, for the most part, is happy and healthy! And, I’m ALIVE today!!!

It was interesting that the last two songs on my playlist were both titled MOVE- one my Toby Mac; the other by Mercy Me. I’ve included them below if you want to listen.

I was reminded on my run/ walk this morning that we have to keep moving forward in life. Fall is such a perfect picture of our lives. We have to experience these seasons of our lives. Some seasons are hard and raw while some seasons are full of happiness. I wish we didn’t have to go through the hard times. I wish we didn’t live with cancer diagnosis and grief, but we do. I’ve come to realize that it isn’t really these different seasons that make up our lives, It’s how we handle these different seasons that make up our lives.

3 For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
   a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
   a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
   a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
   a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
   a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
   a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
   a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

One thing my daughter and I have talked about many times is how fluid our lives are. We want to try to always remember that LIFE CHANGES. If we are going through a hard time- remember that change is coming. The same thing when we are going through a really good phase- CHANGE IS COMING- savor every moment of the good!!

I’m going to choose to live my life today as if I’M ALIVE!! How about you?

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