thankful on a thursday—busy as usual

I started this post last week, and, as seems to happen more and more often, Thursday came and went all too fast. Today I find myself rushed, needing to get too much done in the next 60 minutes before heading outside for six miles along the water. I cannot wait to leave this office and lose myself in a run. With that, here are a few things for which I am so very thankful.

1. Insecurities are universal, and I am not alone in my struggle with pride.
2. The Portland Marathon is one and a half weeks away, and whether I walk, run, or crawl across the finish line in six, seven or ten hours, I will have completed a 26.22 mile race.
3. Forest Park is only 1.74 miles from my house, and once there I have 40+ miles of trail just waiting for me to explore.
4. Honesty, whether it is hard or easy, is always a good thing.
5. Pruning hurts, but I cannot produce fruit without it.
6. For the lines, "Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of All," and the way they touch the core of where I am and where I want to be.
7. Watching my high schoolers struggle forward on their individual journeys, and the fact that they choose to share stories from those journeys with me.
8. There is nothing like a good book.
9. I may love the rain, but these blue skies are heaven.
10. Watching leaves on the hillside change colors.
11. The chance to be a student again.
12. Reading the book of Ruth with new eyes.