Lent Day 18

The effect of having a running partner.  Trying to do anything in life by yourself can be lonesome and detrimental to the success of your endeavors.  Today I ran with both dogs, Monte and Molly.  Running alone versus running with a partner can make all the difference in the world.  There is something more motivational about having someone with you. 

I am witnessing simple companionship lead to friendship.  As long as I invite them along for companionship, these dogs become my friends, and we get along much better.  It’s just like that with God.  As long as I invited Him along for companionship in my life, we will build a relationship that leads to friendship.  I have invited God along in my life on a daily basis; not just for the 30 minutes a day of exercise, but in everything I am doing.  This is building my friendship with God. 

I’ve watched too many times when dogs or other pets become family members and then eventually when we lose that family member, it becomes too much to bear.  My family and I have been through this too many times.  I had gotten to the point where I did not want to become friends with anymore dogs.  I got these two mutts up from the pound where they were already considered someone’s garbage to start with.  Therefore, it makes it easier for me not to become too attached.  While I will always treat them nice, I sure don’t want to actually make them family members.  They are not allowed in the house, yet I will treat them fairly and decently.  However something is happening.  Now, they are becoming my running partners.  They have learned my running habits and built their own endurance levels up.  They have learned how to keep pace with me, and I would even consider them . . . friends.

Everything in life has an equal and opposite reaction.  Life appears like a pendulum.  For every pendulum swing in one direction, there results in an equal pendulum swing in the opposite direction.  This is true in all aspects of my life . . . including running with these dogs.  When I started out, I was pulling the reigns back to slow these two characters down.  Shortly after the halfway point, I find myself pulling the reigns the other direction as these dogs want to slow me down.  Come along friends . . . we have company coming over.  There is something better waiting for us when we get done.