running into the wind

I am not one for making new years resolutions as I always feel that January is a bad time to commit to giving up our favourite foods when so many Christmas leftovers are lying around, it's a bad time to commit to exercise when the weather is so cold damp and dark. Yet this January I fell ( literally) into a resolution. Marc decided the first Monday in January that he was going running. Sat, laptop on my knee, coffee almost in hand, warm and snuggly with Daniel at Pre-School I didn't like the idea much yet when he suggest I went along I foolishly thought "why not!". My relationship with exercise is poor, I am prone to injury with over extendable joints and bad knees. I haven't run properly since school ( and that was usually only to impress the teacher!!) so what possessed me to agree I will never know.

Anyway a few weeks have passed and I have stuck to a twice a week routine. It's not a lot, just under 5 Km around our locality, sometimes with Marc and sometimes alone . I can't pretend I find it easy, the first session I barely got off the estate and literally crawled back on to it ( meeting neighbours along the way!) My lungs hurt, my knees ached and I wanted to collapse. However now everything still aches and hurts but I can run that little bit further without having to walk for a bit, I can appreciate the view of the fields that just about still exist and I can listen to music and pray for those on my mind while I run/ fast walk/ crawl along.

I do desperately want to get fit, to tone up would also be nice but most of all I have discovered the joy of Blue Sky thinking. I now have 36 minutes to myself to listen, to ponder and to pray. I have 36 minutes to appreciate the place we live and I have 36 minutes to be.

I very much doubt I will love running or exercise but I do love the benefits. It's not a resolution where I will beat myself up if I fail but it's a new start at space for me!

I will keep you posted on how it goes :)

LOVE

Am preparing for my Feb article in our local magazine and wondered if anyone fancied checking it out.....February is coming upon us thick and fast..where has this half of Jan gone to??? HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope things are ok for you all out there x

 

 

“All you need is Love”,  “Love is the sweetest thing”, “ Love is all around”, “Love is a wonderful thing”, “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” “Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.”

Just some of the quotes that we may or may not be familiar with relating to LOVE.

February is often associated with love, I love February mainly because a lot of dear friends and family celebrate their birthdays in that month, February also feels special with its shortened number of days. However do we love February 14^th or do we loath it; see it as just another commercial excuse to spend money on tacky cards chocolates and flowers ( if we are lucky!)

When I was a student a friend and I used to get annoyed that Valentine’s was over priced and over hyped and those who were not at that moment in a relationship were made to feel inferior or like they were missing out. Instead we created ‘Friendship Day’ . I am sure somewhere in the calendar one already exists but we felt Feb 14^th really could be  about friendship,  sharing the love friends have for one another and giving thanks for our friends. I must state that I was going out with my now husband at the time so it wasn’t some act of feminism or bitterness.

So what is LOVE?

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails ( 1 Corinthians 13 v 4-8)

These  words from the Bible really sum up how I feel we should treat everyone we care about whether it’s a partner, a friend, a family member, a child or a neighbour.

So whatever comes your way may February be a month of love. A time for you to show those you care about how much you truly love them…money is irrelevant but good gesturers of love can mean the world.