To the Wayside

Over the past few weeks, my anxiety level has quadrupled (hence no updated posts for three weeks). Anxiety is not good for me because it makes me concern myself with everything and remember nothing. I seriously forget everything and am confused all of the time. I didn’t even realize air wasn’t circulating in my house because the battery died in the thermostat! How did I miss that?

Why all the anxiety, you ask? Not only did I run my first half marathon, I celebrated my birthday. All of which was totally uncoordinated to my liking and had to, in some respects, wing it.  On top of that, I still have to keep my rigorous run schedule, continue to focus at work, show up for choir rehearsal, study for church school, attend church and bible study, and somehow find time to clean my house, spend time with friends and family and volunteer in my community. And I’m positive I left something out. Such is my life and all its busy-ness, something always falls to the wayside.

What is the wayside? It’s the never-ending abyss of buried hopes, dreams, would’ve, could’ve, and should’ves. It’s the place where we leave every project we meant to finish, every ‘hello’, ‘I’m sorry’, and ‘I love you’ we should’ve said; every missed opportunity. It is the wayside of our life journey. The places we will never go, the experiences we will never get all because we allowed busy-ness to pick our pockets and stir us off course. And your course is beginning to look like rush hour traffic because everyone is bogged down with the clutter on the wayside.

Can you ever get it back? Sure you can. Nothing is lost. When you allow things to fall to the wayside, they remain where you left them.  It’s up to you to pick it back up again and focus until the purpose is complete. Some things may take longer to finish depending on how far away you left them, while others will just need a few hours.  The important part is that what was on the wayside has moved out of the way for something greater. Live out your purpose, finish your course, and let nothing fall to the wayside.  So I guess I better run today!

Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength. ~ Corrie ten Boom