those that go before

Thank you to all those who have gone before and helped make the way a little clearer, safer, and supported for us. 

I was running on a trail I have run hundreds of times. Lots of people walk, bike, and jog here year-round. But fall is such a fun time to be on the trail because the colors are lovely, the leaves are falling, and the distinct autumn smell is in the air. I like to use my time on this trail surrounded by nature to pray and help refocus myself on God. I had just prayed for God's spirit to be present here- for people on this trail to experience him whether they know him or not. 

Ahead of myself I saw two ladies who had stopped their walk and were looking at something on the trail. As I approached from one direction, a father and son who had been fishing approached from the other. The women stopped us with the palm up stopping hand motion. They had retreived a stick . What the women were trying to do was protect either us from the snake or the snake from us. Probably both. 

It was all coiled up and aggressive. It wasn't very big but it blended in well with the leaves and was irritated (possibly had been passed too closely by a biker?). I looked at the dark snake and markings and am thinking it was a copperhead which is venomous. 

The man volunteered to move it with the stick but it lunged at him and it was clear a longer stick was going to be needed. We found one and he was able to safely get the snake off the trail. 

The presence of this snake on the trail right after that prayer, and right in my running path really struck me. I was so grateful for those ladies who went before me and saw this potential threat. I was very grateful that they didn't just go around and leave the problem for someone else. That someone would have been me, running in prime striking distance to this well blended angry snake. 

Without those that go ahead of us and help clear the way, those who come behind could get very hurt. The importance of people who go before us and help guide and protect us is critical to our journeys. 

So I reflected on how grateful I am for mentors, parents, entrepreneurs, teachers, coworkers, and my family through the ages. These people prepared a way ahead of me, making a path, clearing it of danger (or at least pointing it out), and encouraging me to keep going hopefully even further than they did. Not for my own glory, but so I can keep the process going and help prepare the way for those who come after me. 

Pruning

Pruning hurts! I know it is a for a greater thing, for something better and more fruitful. But there is a difference in knowing and experiencing the pain of pruning. I think you know it is pruning because of that pain. 

It hurts because what is being pruned is still living. It is way easier to have something dead and that I no longer care about cut back. That seems far less painful. But there also was no potential for fruit there either. And if there is no fruit, then there are no seeds and no potential to multiply. And God is in the business of seeing us produce fruit for His glory. 

John 15:2

'Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."

So I am trying to feel and embrace that pain as he prunes. It means there was something living there, that may have been good, but I serve a God who is for my best and his greatest glory. Let us grieve the loss well while looking forward with the hope for what is to grow from pruning.