Rounding the bend at the south end of the track, my thoughts and the view automatically change and I hear myself exhorting myself: "Nearing the end of another lap, Linda. Just this many more to go".
Even as I mentally mouth the words I'm aware of a new vista before me. At the place across the field where I began the day's exercise, I savoured the view of ocean and islands. Picking up my pace, I rounded the bend and faced the forest.
Now, heading down the other side I see staggered layers of growth. At the lowest level, lush masses of invasive blackberry bushes were, mere weeks ago, the source of many a residents' winter supply of succulent berries. Behind those, fast growing alder poke their leafy heads above the bushes. Behind those and intersecting this part of the picture is the unpaved power-line road where trucks, some heavy with harvested timber, rumble and groan. Between their trips, empty trucks rattle and bounce to a pick-up point.
Beyond the power-line, stray cedar and pine stand tall against hills of varying heights and beyond those, the outline of a mountain range. So like life, I muse. So like my own life in particular.
Looking back over more than seven decades of living it's not hard to recognize the highs and lows that have marked my spiritual and physical journey: My marriage; the birth, growth, marriages and offspring of our two sons; the diagnosis of cancer and subsequent treatments; the launch of my company; and, now the luxury of contemplating a slower pace. I've known triumph and tragedy but through it all there has been a consistent seeking after a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. I wouldn't trade any part of the journey.
"Praise the Lord….mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars…." (Psalm 148:7-12)
