Treadmill

I’m not a fan of treadmills. I’d rather be outside running if I have to run. I’d rather play football or go swimming or play golf than run on the spot. It’s not that I don’t ever use the treadmill. I use it as a warm up, although at the moment I warm up on the bike because of the well documented knee injury! And I can start all that again later this week as we move out of lockdown and into Tier 2. But we have the opportunity of having a treadmill at home. We know someone who doesn’t want the one they’ve got. And we have someone who would like it! So, to cut a long story short, I’ve hired a van to collect the said treadmill and we’ll bring it home later this week. And here’s the thing: the only place it can go is in the garage! But to put it in the garage…well, we have to clear out the garage. It wasn’t long ago that the garage was full of food for the Easter Team It had been that way for years - nearly twenty! For the first time ever we had an empty garage! But it took no time to find things to put in the garage so that now, we have clear it out to have enough room put a treadmill in there. Bit like life really. I have had times in life when I needed to create some space just to be. I like to be busy. I’m not good at sitting still. I can’t go through a day without going outside at some point. If I don’t get exercise I become like coiled spring. And yet, I’ve managed to get too busy and needed to create space. I needed to have a clear out of the things that I need to give up and let go of. Trouble is, when I’ve dome that, I’ve ended up finding new things to take the place pf the old things. And before you know it, I’m just as busy as I was before, only with different things! If we want to create space for the treadmill, then some things have to go and not return. We’ve had one trip to the tip, and there will be others! Once I get started, I like a good clear out. The challenge though, is that whilst I might be quite good at doing that in places like the garage, I’m not quite so good at doing it in other areas of life. I’m not quite so good at getting rid of the distractions I know are just that, distractions. And as we find ourselves in Advent I might have some work to do clearing away the distractions that keep my focus away from what I believe are the really important things. The treadmill will help to keep me fit healthy and healthy if we can find the space. Perhaps though, I would do well to create space for the one thing that brings life in all it’s fullness, not just for now, but for eternity.