Some running friends are strongly opposed to doing laps of anything because it's 'boring' or whatever. I, on the other hand, appreciate the meditative aspect of repetitions. A familiar
track frees the mind from thinking of spotting new hazards and route-finding, enabling the soul to go to other places. I've been thinking back (and forward) during the Covid season, which will now encompass the best part of two years. I haven't been thinking with any strategic sense of what should or shouldn't have been done economically, nationally or politically, but rather with a sense of what such an unusual time can spark in the spiritual life.
I feel fortunate to have not experienced loss of livelihood, and realize circumstances for many have been difficult, even traumatic.
On the Centennial Park loop, there are dark, shaded, rooty sections, slippery in the wet, and there are elevated, light-filled sections with easier running.
To me (and now to you) it is a metaphor of my prayer life through the Covid time.
I have had some dark, shaded days and weeks, wrestling with family difficulties including what to do with my parents in their memory loss, and my son with job insecurity and other troubles. My family circumstances are changed in this season, but God is faithful.
There have also been times of light, or clarity in the Spirit, where God gives the manna of answered prayers and a sense of his presence. To my friends who hate laps I say; Earth does a lap round itself every 24 hours and roughly a lap round the sun every year, so I'm not sure why we hate laps. Yes, life can seem like groundhog day for sure (same old...). Yet one repetition I will always be glad of is the determination to keep a time with God in the quiet of the morning. This is where the darkness is wrestled with and the light of God's presence is received. May God sustain you in your journey.
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