More Scar

Now for good roots.  When I exercise regularly, running and cross training, I will not see the fruits of my efforts right away.  On the surface, I won't see much improvement.  But I am building roots that are yet hidden from view.  If running becomes a habit, over time those roots will deepen.  Eventually, I will begin to see improvement in my running.  I will go faster and longer and think that it came all of a sudden.  But it was patience and practice that brought it all about.  My body will change, take on a different look inside and outside from the training.  I will be scarred, but in a good way.  All those times of suffering, doing a good thing, training when I did not want to, will begin to bear fruit.  Good deeds, done over and over, become habits.  Habits, called virtues, eventually bear fruit.  We die to old ways that were useless, and live to new ways that give us life.  Does not the cross always produce scars?  I suffer some from the results of my lip surgery.  But I have new life too.  I am cancer free.  The first day of healing is the toughest.  But it passes.  I am on day two and already things are a bit better.