5 miles with a yellow butterfly.

How does one become a butterfly? You have to want to learn to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar. - Trina Paulus

Running is one of those things I will always do. always love. always enjoy... It doesn't matter what kind of day I've had or how I feel or what's going on in my life - running is something I can always do. Something I want to do. Just me. My shoes. The open road/sidewalk/trail (what have you). Sometimes an ipod, sometimes not. Just me against the world. For as long as I want, for as long as it takes. Something happens when I go for a run. It's more than exercise. It's more than me feeling better about myself, about my body, about my health. It's more than a habit. It's an escape... It's breathing... It's a release and a relief.

On days when I don't take my ipod, which honestly is more often than not, I am alone with my thoughts, but I am also alone with the world. Open and listening to anything that may come into my mind. When I run... I feel the beauty of God, all the wonder of His creation surrounding me and the mere ability He blessed me with. Running is a blessing. One tiny little thing in the middle of an extraordinary long day, a painful day, a normal day, or even a good day... but one tiny thing that lets me know its all going to be okay. Yesterday, I ran. Just like any other day, but something happened.

There I was, along one of my favorite paths... this old road called Moon Meadows, barely any traffic... houses but also... meadow and horses and nature all wrapped into one. Along the side of the road there is all this overgrown grass, and about a mile into my run I noticed this yellow butterfly flying in front of me. I didn't think much of it at first but I kept seeing it. Flying a few feet in front of me as if to say - "You got this. Follow me. I'm right here leading the way." It would disappear now and again, but it would without fail, return. I reached the half-way point devoid of the yellow butterfly and feeling very weary... but 800 meters later there it was again... now, I am well aware that this could have been a different yellow butterfly... but there, in that moment, it was inspiring. This little yellow butterfly sticking out the course ahead of me, flying along without a care in the world, and somehow pushing me to continue on... I could only think of one thing: Hope.

God put a yellow butterfly in my path. He put a yellow butterfly in my path to tell me that everything was going to be okay. Have hope, Kari. Have hope in Me, the Father, Your Father. Have hope that you are going to make it through... this run, this day, these struggles, this life. I'm right here. I'm ahead of you. I've already marked out your path. I'm not going to leave you. You just have to have hope. You just have to have faith... It's easy to forget. It's easy to go about the day and leave God out of it... to take advantage of His love, to take advantage of His promise to always be there. To let Him fall to the wayside because you know, when you decide to listen again, when you decide to follow Him again, He will still be there... It's easy to ignore the little things, to not see them for what they really are, signs that God is a part of everything. Always. And Forever.

God put a yellow butterfly in my path yesterday to remind that He's here - holding out His hands and leading me towards His perfect plan. He gave me a sign of hope. In the midst of everything that life throws at you... What has God given you?