Last week I shared the first part of the One Month to Live book series I picked up recently. The section discussed living passionately and included many great insights. You all seemed to enjoy it, so I decided to continue with part two this week. Let’s talk love!

God’s Love Helps Us Love Others: It takes a huge investment to give ourselves over to other people and care for them. Love carries a price – sacrificing your own desires at times, risking pain or disappointment, facing potential loss, and more. Loving is not easy. We need God’s help to go beyond ourselves and have the commitment to invest in our relationships fully.

We Need Others…But Challenges Will Happen: The most effective way to get through life is with a team of support from loved ones. However, just like sports teams or business teams, our relationships will have occasional conflicts and flare-ups. The most common scenarios include misunderstandings, a “me-first” attitude, and mistakes we all make that need forgiveness. Part of love is accepting others and not trying to change them. We all have qualities and faults that can present a problem or frustration to someone else. Focus on letting God change you instead of you trying to change other people.

Forgive: Without forgiveness we would drown in bitterness. Refusing to forgive others only hurts ourselves because we hold on to resentment and allow those hurting us to continue having the power. It is okay to be angry. It is even okay to be angry with God. However, we must find a way to express that anger in a healthful way so we can move on.

Action Required: Actions speak louder than words. Be sure your actions match up to the love you declare. Also, pay attention to actions that mean something to the other person. What does your spouse or friend really desire? Give what they need…not what you think they need.

Have an Attitude of Gratitude: What prevents us from noticing more of those everyday moments we have to feel thankful for? How often do we forget to thank God for the people in our lives..and to show them our appreciation? A simple thank you goes a long way.

Communicate: We have to communicate to have a relationship. Yet too often in today’s society effective communication gets lost in the hustle and bustle of life. We skimp on relationship time to be more “efficient” in life, but only end up hurting and longing for those connections God wants for us to have. How do we communicate? We listen intently. We share our time. We expose our hearts. We share our needs. We strive to understand. And God is like the satellite in that the more connected you are to Him, the clearer the signal to those with whom you communicate.

Gotta love love. Hope you enjoyed reading this week’s topic. See you in the morning!

• What do you think is the hardest for you to manage in relationships - misunderstandings, a “me-first” attitude, or mistakes needing forgiveness?
• What is the last loving action you showed someone? Keep it clean, people! 😉

Here we go again! Another running thoughts inspired post…triggered by a song. The last time that happened I ended up with visions of my body and mind singing a duet to the tunes of Adam Lambert’s “Whattaya Want From Me”. Luckily this one isn’t quite as heavy on the crazy.

Have you heard the Switchfoot song “This Is Your Life”? While listening during my tempo run yesterday, something about these little lines got the wheels turning in my head.

this is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be

It struck me. This is my life and I only have one shot at it. Am I who I want to be? And you know the amazing thing? My immediate reaction did not turn to negative thoughts in the slightest. I perked up and knee-jerkingly thought “Yea. I am who I want to be!”

I am a woman of faith, which has turned me into the best version of myself I have ever known and continues to help me grow.

I am a wife, which wraps me in love. And makes me a romantic cheeseball. 

I am a mother, which is only one of the most rewarding experiences out there.

I am passionate and no longer fear believing in myself to go after those things that make my heart sing and light a fire underneath me.

I am all those things and more – everything I shared in my original Strengths Out Loud post, for example. Then before my mind had the chance to whir off in another direction with the twisting of the road, another description of myself struck.

I am a runner.

So that definition of self may not carry near the same weight as the others, but on my run today was the first time it really sunk in that I am a runner. Not just someone who likes to run on occasion. I AM a runner.

I look forward to my runs 99.9% of the time because they give me such vitality. Not a single run ends where I don’t feel more alive inside and a better person on some level. I don’t know why, but it does feel that way. I commit myself to lacing up the sneakers and hitting the road or running path regularly. Running feels like an old friend I can’t wait to spend some time with, even if it means early wake up calls. I have trained for two races, have signed up for a half marathon, and plan to add two more races to the fall. I could talk about running incessantly. I would sign up to go to the Urban Runner Blogging Summit in a heartbeat if a certain thing called money didn’t exist. I want to run into my indefinite future and never stop! I am a runner.

I may not quite know what a “fartlek” is and have only recently learned the word “bonk” (doesn’t running have the BEST words? haha!), but I am still a runner. I am a runner because I choose to run. I never thought any special feat or qualification – sub 10:00 miles, running a half marathon, running for a year, etc - would have to make someone else a runner. Why did it take so long for me to figure it out for myself? I don’t know. But at least I do know now that I am a runner. And it’s pretty awesome.

• Is there something that took you awhile to grasp “Hey! I am a ____”? It took me a bit to grasp being a mother. It still seems surreal some days.
• What is one of the funniest words to you? I get a kick out of silly sounding words apparently, so share yours!