Moving Forward. Going Deep.

My best running happens early in the morning when my mind is fresh and my body is rested. But one late afternoon run I started at 3 pm, with eight long interval miles ahead of me. Training for my second half marathon in less than a year pushed me, while also giving me a new and growing confidence in the strength of my body and my mind.

My last two miles that Sunday were the hardest. My feet were sore, my legs tired. I made a new personal record for my 10K running time and even got some nice sprinting times in. Exhaling a long breath of joy as I saw my Garmin watch hit the 8.00-mile marker, I slowed my run to a stop and took note of my stats. I felt better than good, despite being sweaty and having legs that felt like jelly.


SURPRISES ON THE PATH

I was so focused on reading my finishing time and pace and run splits that I didn’t even see the very attractive thirty-something Black man in front of me. Until he spoke.

Him: “Hey…I saw you getting it in for a while here, you’ve been putting in work.”

Me: “Thank you. Yes, just finished eight miles.”

Him: “Wow!!! You really have been putting in work.”

Me, smiling with pride: “I’m training for a half marathon.”

Him: “Well keep it up.” He then smiled and kept looking my way as he walked past. Then he stopped and turned back towards me. “Hey, my name is Marcus. What’s your name?”

Me: “My name is Melody.”

After our brief introductions, we headed in our different directions, but I could tell he wanted to say more. He left me to my cool down walk and continued on his way. Our short conversation encouraged me as a single woman who has been praying about dating opportunities. It also reminded me of the peace and joy I experience when I have focused time on the pavement, whether training for half marathons or simply walking with intention as I pray and process my life with the Lord.


INVITING GOD’S PRESENCE IN OUR DAILY RHYTHMS

Making space for these times provides regular rhythms to be present with myself and invite God into the nuances of my life. He’s already there, but taking the time to actually talk with Him about my dreams, my needs, and what’s making me smile lately helps me build intimacy into our relationship. Moving my body through walking and running helps me move my words and thoughts out of my head and into my heart and mouth. My voice finds cadence for my feelings and longings with the rhythm of my feet hitting the asphalt under me, one step at a time. There’s a rootedness I feel, something Colossians 2:6-7 describes so well:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.” (ESV)

Life with Christ isn’t designed to be lived standing on sidewalks or sitting down on benches casually watching others take a lap around the park.

Life with Christ compels me to move towards Him, in whatever method of movement I can, and live in Him, receiving the supernatural anchoring and spiritual moxie that faith in Him produces in a willing heart like mine.

I find in my journey, Christ beckons me into life with Him, and that life necessitates movement with Him daily – whether that’s walking with Him, sometimes running, maybe a light jog, and in some moments of unimaginable loss and grief, the surrender to let Him carry me in His arms when my knees buckle and I can go no further in my own volition.

Each time I head outside my home for another walk or run, not only am I choosing to exercise my physical self, I’m giving life to my spiritual self too. Being aware of my whole self is very important to me. And with each mile laid down during my pavement times, I find that more of me gets rooted deeper into the story God is writing for my life. I join Him in the journey of my runs that keep me moving and the walks that give me the introspection my soul needs. He is Emmanuel – God with us, the God who walks alongside us, and the God who roots us deeply to Himself.

Featured in 2021 on Propel Sophia, a platform that’s part of the Propel Women collective.

Keep Building Resilience Introverts

Sending love to all the introverts who are building resilience in these pandemic times in the midst of heightened Zoom calls and other ways of working and living now that have become our norm.

Yesterday, I had six video meetings for work, including one that was a 2.5 hour class on African American theology, and would have had a seventh meeting if I hadn’t moved it to next week. My introverted self was pushed but I also built ‘muscle’ from those moments. And I found ways to help myself recover energy between meetings and during meetings, like turning my video camera off when needed, so I didn’t have to ‘be on’ visually, which gave me time to rest. I also closed my eyes during breaks and covered them with the palms of my hands to help my eyes rest and my mind rest with a darker environment.

Also sending a special holla to the Enneagram type 5 personalities like me, those “Inquisitive Thinkers” who have the least amount of energy available to offer to others out of all the other personalities.

I know what it takes to show up, manage your energy and make sure you got enough in the tank to finish out each day in front of you. Keep leaning into these times to grow and build more resilience and strength.

I was amazed yesterday at how God continued to sustain me…and in other moments, even though it seems I’m almost out of juice in my caboose. I read one Christian reflection about the type 5 personality and that when one is struggling or fearful because you’re at the end of your energy reserves and you have no more to give, to ask Jesus Christ, the One with unlimited resources to help you. He is faithful to give to you out of His abundant and unlimited supply and can pour back into you all that you need.

Selah on that.

Photo by Raquel Santana on Unsplash.

Featured Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash.

Christmas Reflections

The mere fact that the birth of Jesus created the opportunity in time and space that those who would later believe in Him and place their faith in Him could and would be washed…pure as snow, as white as snow from their brokenness and their sin, is beyond a good thing. It’s heaven meeting earth in the most beautiful way. I am washed white as snow. No longer can the blemish of mistakes and willful error stain the soul, the conscious is forever freed from shame and guilt, even if the mind needs reminding that freedom is NOW. Jesus came to this earth to give LIFE. His birth ushered real LIFE into our world. How do you thank the Savior for such an indescribable gift?


With a surrendered life, lived in love to Him that tells others about His wondrous gift.

Featured Photo by Arnie Chou on Unsplash.

MLK Reflections

Note: I wrote these words January 21, 2019, for a special event at my job January 24, 2019, that honored the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the event, I spoke these words to 450+ colleagues, sharing ways that I see our organization reflect Dr. King’s dream for change today. 

As I walked down a short flight of steps in The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the lights around me shifted from a crisp fluorescent to a subtle, light glow. It looked like I’d accidentally entered the back end of an exhibit.

Music and voices bellowed softly in the room, full of blown up images from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life – and his final days.

I stood for a moment.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I wanted to take in what I was hearing and also seeing as I watched others process this experience.

It felt like a very sacred space. These were moments in time that stayed constant in their motion to honor a very special individual.

A man who gave much for the cause of Freedom, Oneness, and Diversity.

Dr. King was 39 years old when he left this earth. His life and legacy speak of the intention that he moved from. Considering his age and all that he accomplished through those 39 years makes me consider my own life.

I’m 39 years old and the more I live, the more I understand how critical it is to live with INTENTION.

Dr. King lived his life this way. Even when it was uncomfortable. Even when it challenged him deeply. And especially when it meant fighting for necessary change over lukewarm complacency.

You see, our choices make us who we are.

And we need those choices coupled with our intention because inward decisions lead to outward actions that have the power to change the world.

Dr. King changed the world because of his decisions and we’re here today to honor his incredible life and legacy.

MVIMG_20190124_105333.jpgAs I reflect on Cru and how this ministry continues to grow as a community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ, I see the power of intention at work in several places. One specific one is through The Lenses Institute.

Lenses is an initiative of Cru that exists to help the people of God fight for Oneness by influencing the way Christian leaders see, understand, and act in our ethnically and culturally diverse world. 

We hold several institutes around the nation in cities that include Los Angeles, Orlando, New York City, Phoenix, Lexington, Atlanta, and Raleigh.

As a facilitator and cultural consultant with Lenses, I’m honored to witness many in our ministry be changed by this experience.

Thousands have stepped into this five-day intensive that helps people understand cultural awareness and cultural identity. This happens as they examine their own individual journeys and also enter into the experiences of others from different ethnicities.

Awareness and identity in the area of culture powerfully shape who we are as believers in the Church and beyond the church’s four walls.

In those five days through Lenses, I get to witness people in our ministry willingly step into deep waters that include uncomfortable places and even difficult emotions, as conversations around race, power, and the gospel emerge.

These are people like you. People like me. People who lean into this opportunity to grow personally as they discover more of God’s heart for His kingdom.

People who begin to see God’s hand at work in the weaving together of their stories and the gift of their ethnicities to display the gospel brightly in this world.

People who are willing to enter conversations that help them understand the experiences, pains, and joys of their brothers and their sisters.

These conversations develop empathy, which gives birth to compassion that deepens emotional intelligence and relational trust – two gems that can help the road toward Oneness be paved just a little bit more smoothly.

In John 17 verses 17 through 21, Jesus prayed for Oneness for His disciples and for those who would later come to faith as a result of the gospel being spread. He prayed for us:

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

In Oneness as the Body of Christ, we can demonstrate to the world that God the Father sent His only Son.

The unity of the Household of Faith displayed through men and women, from different ethnicities, cultures, generations, economic backgrounds and more has the power to change this world by showing the world such Oneness – in itself – is from God.

And He loves the world so much that He sent Jesus to the world to save it.

Dr. King understood the power of Oneness. It pushed him forward to walk with God in faith and invest his life with intention so that the lives of others would be changed.

Through The Lenses Institute, I see how our ministry reflects Dr. King’s dream for a better world.

A world where people could be respected as the image bearers God created them to be. A world full of promise and brimming with possibilities.

Last night, I read Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and this quote by him grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go:

Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Nia

I think of her and my breath still gets taken away. What if 21 years ago I was walking somewhere with people I love and a random stranger, a white male recently released on parole, ran up to me unprovoked and stabbed me in the neck and stabbed my loved one and then ran away? 21 years of my life as a black young woman would have ceased to exist. Because everything after that heinous moment would not have been. Every laugh that tickled up my vocal chords into the ears of those who love me, every new birthday, every moment growing more into this brown skin, every tear shed through struggles that made these melanin muscles stronger, every breath given from God that gave me more footing to see this world and love and discover Him deeply. Everything would have stopped at 18. It’s not fair that everything has stopped at 18 for her. It’s not fair, it’s not right, and I’m numb at times understanding and living out what it means to be a black woman in America…and the intersectionality that comes with it.

Nia, I remember you, little sister. I remember you. I want this to be made right. I want this to be better. #NiaWilson #sayhername