🐢 Slow Down 🐢

As a runner the last things I want to do is slow down or worse stop mid run. I want to be fast and fit and impressive. But let’s be honest, after  running very far, I’m barely crawling along. Some days I can do 6 at a decent pace, other days 4 is a challenge. But always past 8 I’m not moving very fast and my goal becomes walk as little as possible and under no circumstances stop completely. I try to stay up with my friends as long as possible before I inevitably fall behind. Yesterday was an exceptionally hard run for me, maybe because I haven’t slept much since Hadley had surgery on Wednesday and I haven’t run since last Saturday. I don’t know, but after our water stop I was struggling. I have to talk to myself every run and tell my body to do what I say and not what it wants to do. Keep going. You can do this. Pick up your knees. Relax. Keep breathing. Yesterday’s run was no different, I was talking to myself and still struggling to keep going. My stomach was hurting, it was hot, I was tired and I needed a bathroom, so the goal changed. Keep moving and make it to the first open bathroom in Whitehouse haha! (It’s funny now, it was NOT funny then). I was forced to slow way down, unless I was willing to trudge off into the woods and take care of my business! As I walked down the highway, I was so mad, why did my stomach have to hurt on a Saturday? Then I heard the birds singing, I looked around and saw dozens of little song birds flying around over my head and out over a pond. I looked at the little pillar of sunlight coming through the sky full of clouds. I noticed that there were at least fifteen shades of green in the trees and grasses right around me. I saw the cows hiding under the trees and stomping through the pond to avoid the heat. I drive this stretch of road all the time and I’ve run this same path 4-5 times now and I’ve never noticed any of these things. I had to slow down even more than usual  to see what was around me. As much as I hated going slow and not feeling great about my run, I could be thankful for it because it really was beautiful. That’s how life is too, we go so fast that we are missing out on the beauty that is around us, the kids laughing or the wildflowers blooming, the crickets chirping or shooting stars. We take for granted all this and so much more, that is if we even see it at all! I’m thinking all of this as I’m walking slowly toward town, trying to spot a restroom that’s open so early in the morning, and wondering how much I’m missing during my every day life because my attention is averted, my brain is tired, my hands are busy and my feet are always moving. I’m thinking “oh what a lovely little blog post this will make, encouraging people to slow down and enjoy the little things.” Then God was like “I’ll see your things you notice when you slow down and raise ya a much more important revelation!” By now it was probably 7:30 so there were much more traffic that there had been earlier, I was being forced to run/walk on the shoulder instead of our preferred route in the middle of the lane. I was looking out toward the opposite shoulder listening to the birds when I noticed a turtle in the road. He had clearly just crawled up out of a nearby pond or riverbed, in fact he was still wet and muddy. He made it across the far shoulder and most of the east bound traffic’s lane. He was just inches from being run over several times in the moments right after I spotted him. He needed to get to the center stripe and then safely across the west bound traffic without getting crushed. Every time a car flew past he would quickly tuck his head and legs back into his shell. The cars were going so fast they probably had no idea there was even a turtle in the road. They weren’t try to scare him or hurt him, they were just going on about their lives. That’s when I decided that the least I could do what move him to the shoulder on my side of the street so he could safely go off into the woods. I waited until there was no one coming and I trotted over and picked him up. He was pretty big and it took both hands for the to grab him. For a split second I wondered what kind of turtle he was and if he would bite me and not let go until he hears thunder or something (I don’t know where I even got that, maybe from my grandma decades ago), but I didn’t have time to think it through much, there would be more cars and semi-trucks speeding toward us.l very soon. I quickly scooped him up and ran across and placed him safely to go on about his life. He was even muddier than he looked but I was already drenched in sweat so muddy hands were ok. As I sat him down, I thought about what might have happened to him if my stomach had cooperated and I had been running at my regular pace. The truth is even if I had noticed him I probably would not have stopped what I was doing to wait on cars and go save a turtle. That’s me in real life too, always going, always busy, always moving from one thing to the next. How much beauty am I missing out on? But more importantly how many people around me need something and I’m too preoccupied to notice? Crossing  the highway is hard for a turtle. Raising kids is hard for a single mom or dad. Staying married is hard for... well pretty much everyone. Applying for college and financial aid is hard for a first generation college student. Juggling everything is hard for the perfectionist. Staying afloat a especially hard for anyone who struggles with anxiety or depression or just has their hands way too full. Life is hard. We aren’t in heaven yet so there is just no way of getting around the highways that we have to cross. The turtle and I didn’t really have a lot of time to talk but I’d like that think he appreciated me saving him from getting crushed by huge wheels as he was just trying to live life. We can do the same thing for people we cross paths with. We can show kindness to the mom who can’t find her wallet in between the kids’ screaming in the store check out line. We can encourage and uplift those who are struggling to see their worth or that things will eventually get better. We can share what we have already learned the hard way, so that college kid or newly wed or new parent can be one step ahead of where they would be if we just sped on by. This takes time and energy and it requires us to SLOW DOWN. We aren’t used to this in our busy, self-focused lives, but I know personally I could use help crossing the road sometimes. And if I can help make some one else’s journey easier then it’s worth whatever forced me to slow down (even if it’s runner’s trots. Google it, it’s a real thing). We might get bit or dirty. We might be even later to wherever we are rushing to. We might have to do something we weren’t planning on doing. But if you were a turtle in the middle of the highway wouldn’t you be praying and begging with anyone who would listen for a helping hand? We are all the turtle at times and we are all in a position to help at times. Take help graciously when it’s offered. And slow down so you can notice those around you that are struggling and do what you can to make things a little easier for them.