Somewhere Between Cherry Street and Tattnall Park

True confession: I steal all my pictures from Pinterest :)

That's where you can find me five days out of the week, mostly in the dead of afternoon, hair half plastered to the side of my face and half pulled up in a high ponytail. Rocking the Nike shorts, my pride and joy Brooks (saved about $40 on them this summer at AJC's Peachtree Road Race aka baller), and a frat tank. Jamming out to a mixture of middle school era rap songs, good ole country, and of course Mister John Mayer. I am out there pounding the pavement with my trusty running partner, MB and loving every minute of it. Crazy. I know. But I think the essence of running is very much interwoven in the fiber of my soul. So deep. I know.

In all seriousness, running is what I like to call the purest part of my day. Though I do get some alone time during the day, I am not very drawn to seek it out (I'm like 95% extroverted here, people) and quite frankly, am too over-scheduled to demand it for myself. So the hour or so (let's be real, there's a lot of so added to that hour haha) I take to run five miles is the time I get to be inside my head and at the same time outside of it. I like to joke that it is the cheapest form of therapy, and for me it quite literally is. Though I naturally like to talk out loud--and God bless my friends they get to be on the receiving end of this habit--I think I need this time to talk inside my head too. One of my best friends wrote me a letter this summer before I left for India and in it said something to the effect of don't be afraid to ask the tough questions and don't be disappointed when you don't get an answer. I think that is a lot like my relationship to running. Maybe the question I am asking is how to study harder/how to make more time out of my day/how to solve a friend problem/how to get into grad school and I am met smack dab in the middle of the street with an reverberating GO RUN. And I never find the easy answer out there, nor do I want to. I think there is something so unadulterated about my time out there, and I do not want it to become a crutch to fixing everything. But it certainly is the best part of my day, and I feel much better (sweatier) afterwards. 

Running has always been a common love between my mother and I, and I am forever grateful she turned me on to the passion. We hunt down races months in advance and plan our family vacations around them (spoiler alert: we're training for a half in Nashville in the spring!). I am so glad we have between us a bond that nobody else can really get. This weekend she is hosting her cross country team's meet...and I ask for all your prayers for her! She is an amazing person and is putting her whole heart into this weekend. I could not be prouder. Love you.

Happy running (and if you're not yet, let me take you out sometime!)
K

Fix You

I've kind of been in a Coldplay mood lately (imagine that haha) and "Fix You" keeps creeping up. If you know me pretty well, you know I cannot hear the song without crying. There is something so beautiful and captivating about the lyrics, and I love to think "lights are guiding me home". So here comes the question and tonight I am met with a resounding answer. Question: What needs fixing? Answer: Absolutely nothing. As in, I will be fixing nothing about my life...

A window at the Red Fort in New Delhi, India. Totally been here. Totally one of my top ten places on Earth. Totally didn't take this picture, but stole it from this flickr :)

Hold your cookies, people. This is a big one. I repeat again, I will be fixing nothing in my life. Instead, God is doing all the work. Draw your eye over to Psalm 73, verse 26: "My flesh and my heart my fail, but my God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." My flesh and my heart--may fail?--definitely will. I can guarantee you it will. Hearts break and life ends. Sounds mighty depressing, but God meets you in that overwhelming moment and says, "BUT" wait for it, wait for it-- "I will be the strength (you know that renewing confidence that you cannot bottle or buy or find yourself?) of your heart (as in you!) and your portion (as in I am his, and he is mine kind of thing) forever (not until this semester ends or until he breaks up with you or until he gets bored of hearing you complain every day). No we are talking about forever. I cannot even comprehend forever. At twenty, I have no idea what thirty or fifty looks like much less forever.

And stole this one too...from this pinterest board!

That is a big feeling. A feeling that I think sounds a lot like God saying "I will fix you". And I cannot help but delight in that. There is no one on Earth or in heaven who I'd rather fix me than God almighty. He is lining things up exactly how they are to be, and He is molding me into the woman I am meant to become. That is something I cannot do on my own, and it is comforting to know my own limitations. I cannot do anything but turn it all over to Him. "Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-7)," is not only a suggestion, but a downright commandment. I love that. I believe in it, "not because I see it, but because I see everything else by it". Hitting you with a little C.S. Lewis right there. That's all I've got for tonight, stay tuned :)


Because I think writing goes best paired with music, here ya go kind people: The Fray – Happiness. If you don't already love them, talk to me. I can make a believer out of ya.


Yours,
K