Empty

I can't do what the running magazines say.

I've read almost all of them. And they pretty much agree that you need several hundred calories in your system before a run. A small apple, a granola bar, or a light salad should do the trick.

Unless you have my stomach.

I have one pre-race food: a cup of coffee about an hour before I head out the door. Anything more than that and I feel like I have just digested a four-course meal.

A few weeks ago I woke up hungry. About 30 minutes before I was to run, I found half a granola bar in my purse (that was only 100 calories to start with!) and thought, "This will be exactly what I need so I won't be hungry on my run." So I ate it. And for the entirety of my 4 miles, I felt like I was carrying a 10-pound brick in my stomach.

I need to be completely empty when I run. 

And I've also begun trying to empty my soul, as well.

Not empty in a bad way; sometimes empty means lonely, hopeless, and unfulfilled. 

On the contrary, I'm determined to empty myself of the stuff I don't need; the stuff that will make my soul sick. Like these:

"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind," (2 Peter 2:1).
"But now you must also rid yourselves of all things such as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips," (Colossians 3:8).

This isn't a complete list. These two verses are just ideas to get us started thinking about the stuff we need to see in our lives and get rid of. Colossians 3:9 (which follows the second verse above) says this: "Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old self with its practices..." 

So I'm learning to put off the old self. To empty myself of the things that I knew and felt and believed and did before I knew Jesus. 

But I can't do it alone.

So I start the process when I lie down to sleep at night. In the darkness and silence, I close my eyes and begin to review my day with Christ. I ask Him to show me where I blew it. Slipped. Fell completely on my face. Acted like my old self. Those are the things I want to empty. 

Jesus shows me that careless word, that unthinking response, that answer I wish I could take back. He shows me my bad attitude, my selfish ambition, and my unholy habits. 

He empties me of me.

I'm coming totally clean here. I usually fall asleep during this process. So when I wake up in the morning--before my eyes even opened--I ask God one more time to empty me. Make me ready to receive what He has for me that day.

Because I don't want to be so full of yesterday, so full of myself, or so full of things I should have put off long ago that it weighs me down. Even the little stuff--like that half granola bar--can feel like a 10-pound brick.

And I want to be free. Receptive. Open. 

So as I wake up and grab my cup of coffee [and nothing else!], I remind myself that I am empty. Confessed. Cleaned out by the one who knows me better on the inside than I know myself.

You can be, too. 

Take time today to empty yourself of you so you can be filled by Christ. (More on that soon!)

Oh! And come run with us! Prize Runners Group run this Saturday, April 11, at 8:00 AM at Luther Lake in Dickson. 


Leslie Hudson