Ashley Hicks is a runner and co-founder of the group Black Girls RUN!, a group whose mission is to encourage all people (but especially black females) to make fitness and healthy living a priority. For Ashley Hicks, as for many runners, there is a spiritual and meditative aspect to running. She tells the story about preparing for her second marathon and in the process of buying some new running shoes telling the person who was helping her at the store that she wasn’t really excited about the race and just wanted to get through it. He told her to remember that “the blessing is outside of your comfort zone.” For anyone who has ever done any long-distance running, or any physical activity that took you past the limits of your comfort zone, you know how true this is. You must go beyond your comfort zone to get your second wind, and this is just as true for mental and spiritual efforts as it is for physical ones. God’s saving grace is more apt to come after the dark night of the soul. We simply aren’t likely to recognize God’s grace in the everyday routine, even though it’s always there. If you’re feeling a bit lackluster and blasé about life, or some aspect of it, press on until you hit that point where it starts to get uncomfortable, and remember that the blessing comes somewhere past that point.– Christopher Simon
