Rut

I am trying to change up my routine this week to see how it goes. I have known for a while that I need to eat before I run. I also know that it's not really safe running at five in the morning. Not only is it dark as pitch, but it's also kind of dumb with all the wildlife running around out there. Did I tell you I almost got hit by a flying paper that was being chucked at a house I was running by? Crazy newspaper delivery people!

Anyway, we took the dogs for their walk (in the dark) and ate breakfast. Alex got ready for work, and I did my morning devotions and the all-important blog. (Yes, Susan, I'm trying to be more timely for you, but sometimes, my editor is off doing his own life or something!) I'm taking some vitamins that need to be in my system for about an hour before I run, and we'll see if they help me and the lack of energy I seem to be having. Then home for a shower after the run and into work by 11:00. I think I can do it; it's not brain surgery, but it is change.

Why do we find it so hard to change? Do we like the ruts we get into? I guess if the rut is good, like—well… What would a good rut look like? Mine have always been, well, ruts, and they aren't a good thing, are they? I can see how if you drive your truck every day out into a field to get to a fishing hole, after awhile, a path is made. Then about a month or two passes, and you don't even have to hold onto the steering wheel any more, because you got some good ol' ruts happening. You just get in and put your foot on the gas, and the truck seems to know where it's going, huh? Kinda like mindlessly going through life. But we stay there, cuz it takes energy to get out of it. Once we start trying to get out of the rut, we find the road is pretty bumpy and downright uncomfortable with all the tossing and bouncing around. So we let the truck go back into the ruts. Do you think we miss what might be the most exciting part of life because we refuse to leave our safe ruts?

Think about making the ruts in the first place. Was that easy? Now you feel stuck, unproductive and somewhat lazy. You know what? You are! That's where I have found myself, stuck doing the same thing and missing out on what God might have for me if I would just chang it up a little. I know you know what I mean. Have you ever gone to the store and all of a sudden found yourself talking with someone you don't even know, only to find out when you share part of yourself with them that they share part of themselves with you, and you find out you both know somebody or went to the same school, or something really random?

So I'm attempting to get out of my rut of running in the dark first thing in the morning to see if it shakes up my life any. You know I will be letting you know, and I'm sure I will gripe about it some. I ask that you think about where you are right now and really see if you’re in a rut. I don't know of many ruts that are good ones, so if you’re in one, why don't you change one thing and see how it snowballs into many things? The next thing we might know is we're coming out of that rut and seeing a whole new countryside that we didn't even know we were going through.