Like a Gazelle Among Hyenas...

I was just walking normally, I promise I was.  I mean, that's how I walk-- I zoom past everyone else, bobbing and weaving through the crowd.  My shoes clack-clacked on the ground and I felt the wind on my face.  My hair flowed freeling behind me.  Like a gazelle among the hyenas, I glided through the hallway towards my destination.

"Go, Miss Hardt, Go!"  a particularly energetic student at the end of the hall squealed with laughter.  I was just walking normally-- I promise I was!  Apparently my normal walking speed is... just a little faster than most.  While I laughed with the student and reminded him that I'm a city girl, I remembered another incident that made me realize that my gait may be abnormal:

It was July.  In Florida.  It was hot and humid, and I was on my very first and one and only date; this was a date about which I wasn't even enthused.  Imagine my uneasiness.  Imagine the awkwardness.  It didn't help that I was nervous, I'm sure, but I was walking beside (let's call him Carlos) Carlos with a quick step.  I didn't realize it, of course, because I always walk that fast.  Suddenly, a hand descended upon my shoulder, slowing me and taking me by surprise.  Is he getting fresh?!  The outdated, only semi-serious thought barely flashed through my mind as I looked up at him in surprise.

"You walk really fast," he said.  I slowed, I laughed nervously.  Awkward. 

I'd like to say I learned my lesson, but how many times have I been walking through the mall with friends as they pant desperately, "Can you slow down?!"  Apparently I can't.  Apparently I walk through life at a breakneck speed, intent upon my destination and unwilling to waste any time getting there.  And I suppose that's how I live life, too.  My eye becomes fixed on the goal, and I waste no time reaching it.  That's not to say I can't stop and smell the roses, but for the most part, I glide.  College, Europe trip, job.  There was a time in my not-so-distant past when my next goal was marriage.  I didn't know how I'd reach that goal, but everything in me was focused in that direction.  That's no longer my goal.  I've already written about my new and improved goal. 

As I thought about my walking habits as a symbol of my life and my new goal, it brought to mind two verses in particular:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." 

So I walk fast.  Good.  It reminds me of the way I should be pursuing the Lord.  Walk with me?

P.S.: notice how legit this early 90s illustration is.