Twenty Minutes

Twenty minutes - that's what the doctor ordered. Get up, get dressed, go to work, and exercise - twenty minutes a day. When half an hour sounds overwhelming, twenty minutes sounds doable.

Within the first two minutes, the shock of cold air cuts through the stale exhaustion that's settled inside me; after ten minutes, I begin to unclench from the day's stress. I begin to notice the world around me - the puddles, the sunshine, the wet, green grass against the hard asphalt curb. Smoke rising out of a neighbor's chimney hangs in the evening air. If I close my eyes it's winter and I'm on a walk with my dad.

Memories unearthed.

The exercise isn't just exercise - it's part of making it. Twenty minutes is helping me stay above the line. Twenty minutes is helping me fight despair. Twenty minutes makes room for God's "truth whispers" to my heart.

And I need Him.