That First Snow...my lil devotion.

Technically, it is not our first snow. But it is our first Snow Day, our first BIG snow of the season. 

It was the kind of snow that danced in the air. In its silence, it changed the landscape of everything. The snowflakes bent the branches with a thick coat of brilliant velvety dust. 

I really had NO intentions of running when I got the call that school would be closed. 

It was one of those days. 

Snow day. 

Laceys lost her father last week and today was the funeral. 

The wind was so angry that I didn't want to get in its way. 

And I am not training right now.

So many great reasons to NOT run.

BUT then there was ONE big reason to RUN...

THE FIRST BIG BEATIFUL SNOW...It is always so much fun to play in. 

The first snow always brings out the kid in me. 

By 1pm I had plans to go out and play on the trails in it. 

I met Claudia and Rachel for a fun run at Holdridge. It was breathtaking. Stunning. We couldn't make it through a mile without "Ohh-ing" and "Aww-ing".

It was so magnificent we never felt cold or wet. The snow took every struggle, every confusing thought and every negative feeling from me. In its most perfect state it gave me a NEW Beginning. 

The girls laughed, played, and together we escaped from adulting for a few minutes to play like we were kids again.

Fresh Start. My lil devotion.

When you see that first snow, thick and fluffy covering all things you are taking back.  It is disguising ugly things and making all things pretty again.
The old path is gone. There are not many prints before you, as you gently navigate yourself through what you once knew so well.
It all looks so new.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."Isaiah 43:18-19

I needed NEW.
I needed to look forward. It was a reminder that all that ugly from my yesterdays was gone.
The words that haunted me from others was covered. Gone.
The guilt from my mistakes was hidden in beauty. Gone.
All that daunted me, that path overally traveled, beaten down, muddy and messy was GONE.

What was left was Beautiful. A New Beginning.

We all need a NEW BEGINNING. A reminder to LET THINGS GO.
To speak Love and Kindness. And not just to others but to ourselves. See the beauty in yourself.

Today as I ran with the girls their kindness warmed me. They don't hold my mistakes in front of me. Good friends cover you in love and kindness.
Just like that fresh snow. Good friends see your magnificence.

Grateful for mine.
Grateful for new beginnings.

RUNDOWN:
Where: Holdridge West loop.
Distance: 4.5 miles

photo credit Rachel...WOW..I look bowlegged!

Anita

"Can you save my heavy dirty soul...from me.."  twenty one pilots