You paint your life

​I got up yesterday morning and decided this was going to be the day to break my run-less streak. I have many friends who embrace running at least a mile every day; I was currently in conflict with the reality I hadn't run a single mile in 16 days.

The run-less streak started with Covid. But now it was being kept alive by the run-less habit that is always happy to replace the running habit.

I sat on the couch debating something I'd already determined I was going to do. Don't we do that a lot - make a decision about something then turn around and give ourselves permission to debate the decided?

I reflected on a Mark Batterson quote that popped up in my memories earlier in the morning: "Time is measured in minutes; life is measured in moments."

It hit me. My day would ultimately end. And when it did, it would be defined my the minutes in my day - all 1440 of them - OR it would be defined by the moments I created out of those minutes.

Minutes come and go, often without thought. Maybe a good day is built on making decisions about what I'll make of those minutes, and then sticking to those decisions.

Maybe a meaningful life is built on making decisions about what I'll make of those minutes, and then sticking to those decisions.

I got off the couch. I did go run 4 miles. And what I felt in the moments of doing that - and in the aftermath - was a prettier picture than the picture the minutes would have painted had I chose not to go through with my plan.

I think sometimes we forget just how in charge of our minutes we are. I think we forget that the minutes might be the all important paint, but we are holding the paint brushes.

We are holding the vision of what that paint can become.

When we give ourselves permission to change our minds about things we've already decided, we hand that paint brush over to the minutes. And minutes can be pretty destructive without our participation.

So what will you paint this week?

Maybe you'll paint over a picture of your past you've been wrestling with. We have permission to do that, you know. We don't have to hold on to old paintings; we can paint over them.

Or maybe there's a brand new path in life you're excited about. Pull out a brand new canvass and start painting.

Just. Start. Painting.

Whatever you do today, though, don't hand that brush over to your minutes. Our minutes are quite lazy and will paint little meaning into our lives at all if we let them.

So don't let them.