An Exercise Milestone

Yesterday I tried to start a new morning routine. I got up 1/2 an hour earlier than I had been since moving to day shift. I peeled myself off the mattress at 5:30. It was still dark outside. I gave myself about 30 minutes to wake up, eat breakfast, and pack up what I would be taking to work for lunch. I figured by then it would be light outside and I could take the dogs for a walk.

With the changing of the seasons, and autumn setting in, it's getting darker earlier each night. Pretty soon it will be dark before I have a chance to get home from going to the gym after work. That means if I continued to walk the dogs at in the early evenings I would have to walk them through town in the dark. Now I walk them in the daylight through the cemetery. If it's dark the cemetery is closed. I wouldn't want to walk through it even if it was open. I know there's no one or nothing there that's gonna hurt me but...well it's just...creepy.

Anyway I really like walking my puppies through the cemetery for several reasons. So I decided that yesterday morning was the time to make the switch from early evening walks to early morning. But the weather had a different idea. The skies in our area yesterday morning were so clouded that the daylight didn't arrive like it should have. When it was time to walk the dogs it was still very dark outside. So much for changing my schedule with out notifying the proper authorities or rather the elements. But if that's the way God wanted the day to be then I must accept that He's in charge and be grateful that's how it was.

Anyway this morning it was pouring rain so once again, no dog walking. However after I got home from work the precipitation had cleared out enough for us to go. It was cool, overcast, and dreary but it wasn't raining.

Now here's my point of this whole thing. I did something on my walk tonight I haven't been able to do since I started walking for exercise back in July. I walked them around the graveyard's outer path 4 times. At a distance of approximately 1/2 mile around that's a total of 2 miles. I walked 2 miles tonight. That's an exercise milestone for me. Less than 3 months ago I was having to stop and sit down on a granite bench half way around each time.

My next walking goal is to be able to walk to my church from my house. Although I haven't measured it by my car's odometer I've been told that it's 3 miles. A fellow church member, who makes that walk nearly every Sunday morning, has been challenging me for a few years now to walk with him. Now that I've done 2 miles in the cemetary I may be able to reach that goal in the not too distant future. Of course the ultimate goal is to walk both ways; a 6 mile walk. That's going to be a while but now that star is not so far out of reach.

Thank you Lord for giving me the strength and the ambition to reach just beyond what I have been able to do. Becoming stronger physically will help me be able to serve you better spiritually.