Testa’n

The sun is bright. You feel its rays slowly grazing your face. The birds are singing. You look ahead, into the horizon…you look down, your right foot hits the pavement, then your left foot, then your right, and then left, your right, your left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right…

We’ve had beautiful weather this past week in Montreal. So I was compelled to run outside almost everyday. I’m no runner. But I was focused. So I did run every day. I ran…but every time I ran there was a painful pull on my hamstring…but as I looked up and continued to run I no longer felt the pain. I didn’t want to stop.

The Lord thought otherwise…

I only realized it on Saturday what God was trying to hint at me.
This was the day I did not run.
I wasn’t able to run because I went to Akwesasne with two other MV’s and CFC’s from Montreal.
We spent two hours siting in a car going there, we spent, an hour sitting at mass,
we spent another hour sitting and discussing with the youth about our upcoming events, and we spent another two hours driving back to Montreal.
I was sitting, I wasn’t running.

God gave me a sign.

He literally gave me a sign.
As we reached Akwesasne, I was hit by a large sign that I usually see on a daily basis, but never really noticed it as much…it was bright and red and it said:

Testa’n.

It was a stop sign in Mohawk.
I looked at it and I smiled.
Also because the Tito driving the car kept saying it every time we got to the sign (haha). We were heading to the church for Mass, and every time the Tito said “Testa’n!” I felt God repeatedly reminding me to ‘stop’. Most importantly the Lord was preparing my heart to stop everything before Him.

Then I flashed back to that moment I was running.
As I ran I felt that sharp pain in my hamstring, it diverted my attention to my leg, just like how that stop sign caught my attention and allowed me to stop.
He was calling me to rest and to look up.

I know that this upcoming month and half is going to be a busy and hectic one, with RYC prep, RYC, summer school, work, and a whole bunch of fun events and challenges…it’s easy to just go with the motions, going from one thing to another, like running from one leg to another. I am reminded that there is more to life than focusing on the motions,”right leg, left leg” but what we need to do is to pay close attention to the signs that God is trying to reveal to us. They do not need to be supernatural signs…but He reveals to us signs in our daily lives, whatever it may be.

And so I continue running…left, right, left, right, left, right…But this time I acknowledge the pain in my hamstring. I look up. Stop.
And all I see is the horizon.