Embrace the Risk

The nursing home can be a depressing place. The blank, mindless stares of some of the residents, the pill line of wheelchairs, the somber tones of the last days of life, provides stark contrast to what is going on in my heart and head. I see a different world.

And the thought came to me: whatever risk one takes, however depleted one may get out training, however difficult an event may be, however it pours you out; all the fatigue and failure of a lifetime of endurance sports is better than one day in a nursing home.

Most residents don't wish for more stuff, more money, more prestige. They want capability again. "If I could just .......again." What word would we put between the "just" and "again" in that sentence?

As the saying goes, "the first wealth is health." I have health. I have capability. I have today. The only thing that can keep me from embracing the risk of losing or the possiblity of success is my own limited vision. Perhaps I can go deeper, higher,farther than I can yet see?
Perhaps, I can  today be found worthy of the capability God has granted me. Perhaps I can embrace the risk and "just" ....... "again" and "again" and "again."

Yeah, the sun is out. Just got back from a five mile run. And, its a great time to go for good bike ride; embrace the day, embrace the risk while the rush of life courses within me.

Trusting the Within

Where does it come from to get this tired old body out of the recliner and on the road? Why leave so many other things undone to go ride a bike? Why trade ease, comfort, and indulgence for more effort? Why? And for sure at the end of it all is even more fatigue, endured for a cause few care about besides me. 

 Why?

There are no immediate rewards; no parade; no cheering section; just my own willingness to take on the long hot road for a cause I can't completely explain to myself.

As I write this, I am so tired that I only hope this makes sense. Gotta go. I have a two-hour bike and down deep something Within knows why. Even in this haze of fatigue, my foggy brain says despite this apparent senselessness, this still makes sense. So, out the door I go, following, believing, and trusting the Within.