a gift on my run

I didn’t want to run today.  My legs felt like lead.  I’ve got a big blister on my heel from Saturday’s hike.  I’ve spent parts of the last 2 days in kayaks, working muscles that have gone unattended too long.  But I picked up a new pair of running shoes this afternoon, and I want to be consistent in my exercising, so I laced ’em up and headed out the door.

As I plodded along Puddintown Road (yep, no G in that name–that’s how we roll) toward Millbrook Marsh, I let my mind wander.  I listen to sermons while I run (it’s about the only uninterrupted time I have in each day), and I was trying to ignore my legs, which were telling me that it would feel so much better to turn around and go home.

Somewhere along the bike path that parallels the creek, it hit me.  As I gulped in the air, I could smell something beautiful–honeysuckle!

Now, for a little background info: my nose doesn’t usually work.  More specifically, I don’t usually get smells.  Every once in a while something sneaks into the olfactory gland and makes its way to my brain, but on a normal day, I can’t smell you.  No perfume, no stinky socks, no baking bread, no cat puke.  It’s pretty much a break even, I guess.  I can detect the delicate aroma of the pig farm nearby if the wind is right, and I love the smell of a freshly flattened skunk.  But most days I get nothing.

I almost stopped to smell the honeysuckle.  I was totally surprised and caught off guard.  That’s my normal route, and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed the smell before.  But I got it today, and it took me a minute to process it.  I would have stopped to bask in the glory, but I don’t know if my legs would have revolted, and I wanted to finish the run.

I needed that little pick-me-up today.  My mood has turned a little sour.  Annabelle keeps asking me why I’m sad.  My family has found me to be a little testy.  And I don’t like that about me.

So tonight, I’m going to spend some time counting my blessings, thanking God for the honeysuckle, and asking him to help me break out of the mini-dip that my attitude has taken.

If God can give me a little gift like the smell of honeysuckle, surely he can help me in other areas, right?

When’s the last time you got an unexpected, unlooked for gift?  What was it?  Share with us…