This is Jen. She amazes and inspires me.
Jen ran the Berlin Marathon with cancerous tumors in three different areas of her body.
Running is Jen’s therapy, and getting to know her the past year has been a blessing.
She is one of the kindest, selfless, caring people I have ever met who, in the same breath, has the strength of a lion at heart.
At the marathon, I watched Jen make sure a friend we made that morning was with us at the starting line.
As we started the marathon, Jen ran ahead with another friend we were there with who was struggling. Jen ran beside her to help her get settled into her pace.
We went back and forth being with them along the course. Towards the end, we reconnected with Jen briefly but somehow lost her.
After we got to the finish line, we couldn’t find Jen, and it turns out Jen literally stopped on the course to wait for us to cross the finish line together - and sadly, we didn’t know and somehow missed her
And this is Jen, a beautiful soul who is aware of the people around her, and she does what she can to show up and love on others.
Jen’s kind, caring, selfless heart reflects the love of God. She was more concerned about others around her getting to the finish line rather than herself.
This isn’t how she always has been. She used to run for time, and she has shared that a few years ago, her perspective about racing shifted for her, as did the purpose of running for her.
And to me, her perspective on the course that day represents how we are meant to live our lives every day, doing what we need to do to fuel ourselves in mind, body, and soul, so that we can be outward-facing, showing up, and loving on others along the way.
I share this with you today with the hope that Jen’s loving heart and strong soul will inspire you to.
I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we learn from Jen’s example that we can’t always control our circumstances, but we can control how we choose to love others through them. May we be inspired by her beautiful example to keep our eyes and ears open to ways we can love others along the way, even if that means we need to speed up, slow down, be present or wait, like Jen for each of us on the course that day.
With love and hope,
Shawn