Gratitude for Community

I am so grateful for the people in my life who make me laugh. In my last post I wrote about my last track meet, which went very well. As I had talked about there being much pain in running, there can also be a rush of joy as you realize what you are truly capable of. I will never forget running my last lap of the 4 by 8 and hearing a teammate cheer for me yelling,"You only have 350 meters left to go!" This is not the most helpful information to hear as you are finishing an event, but it did make me laugh! As there are many "lasts" as a graduate and a finished track season is one of them, my prayer is that there will never be an end to the friendships, as well as to the memories that have been made and stories that will be retold as the years go by. There is truly no place like home and as I will begin my DTS this fall I can look forward to, Lord willing, coming home to these people. I am so grateful to hear my coaches say that they really do want us to come back and visit. At the same time right now I can look ahead. I am already getting so excited thinking about being in Idaho in the mountains and eventually off to India.
       There is meaning and purpose behind each aspect of our lives. My prayer for the CA community, from where I graduated, is that they would continue to do the next thing in love, to have gratitude for each other and that when I would come back from India and visit, that there would continue to be joy in everyone with whom I have shared so much and so many memories.