The Race

I used to think of my life as a treadmill, running ever faster and threatening to throw me off the back end as seen on so many sitcoms. I'm trying to retool the imagery and consider it to be a race instead. This is very Biblical.

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 marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. - Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

It's imagery brought to my attention often. I have several friends who are runners - triathletes, ironmen and women, even. One good friend just finished her first 5k race after exercising for the better part of a year, losing weight and feeling more and more assured of her ability, she signed up for a 5k race and finished it in 31 minutes with energy to spare (at least from the looks of her after picture). I have watched these friends in awe. How do they do it?

Then the other day someone I don't know very well, who really didn't even know the full story of what our family has been through in the last three or so years kind of made the connection for me. All she knew is that I have three kids, one older and a set of twins. She looked at me and said, "I'm just amazed that you do this, and you're here." I hope my face expressed my confusion as I said, "What? Do you think I should be crumbling to pieces any minute now?" I realized she was watching me with that same sense of awe...How does she do it? There's no magic here, I just do it. Nike style, I guess:

unhindered, persevering, eyes fixed

Today is perhaps not typical, but if it's not one thing it's another. Other than our recent vacation (which now seems like ancient history) the number of times in the last few years that I have sat around wondering what to do next are non-existent. There is always something to do, and usually several important things vying for my attention... Today, started off something like this:

7:00a - Wake up after sleeping poorly since 1:00a, listening to my poor little guy cough his way through a virus and then try to go back to sleep. I weigh the option of taking him in to see the pediatrician only to be told  "It's just a virus...there, there...go home." Decide it's worth it to be able to sleep better tonight.
7:10a - Wake up daughter and set timer for "snuggle time". Get breakfast ready for four people - not me...realizing that IF I get to eat breakfast it will be on the go.
7:25a - Ask Daddy to take daughter to school so I can go to doctor's earlier. He hits the shower. I start packing one snack and two lunches. Remind daughter to get dressed.
7:45a - Wake up twins and get them started on breakfast. Get daughter started on breakfast. Get dressed.
8:00a - Put shoes and coats on twins - leaving them in their jammies. Remind daughter to get shoes on. Make sure backpack is packed.
8:15a - Realize I'm going to be fighting school traffic. Herd twins to minivan. Herd husband and daughter to school. Drive alternate route that turns out to be probably worse than the first idea.
8:45a - Arrive at pediatrician. Miracle occurs and the boy coughs while we are there and doctor decides he needs albuterol treatment...
9:40a - Leave pediatrician armed with drug and nebulizer, realize I have 20 minutes to get home and prep for my next appointment...

Tired yet? We're not even through the first three hours. It goes on. Chiropractic appointment for me, then voting. Lunch time, nap time, school pick up, gymnastics, dishes, dinner, make muffins, bake pumpkin, search for errant paper unsuccessfully, bedtime for kids, finally time to work on my laptop or desk...

I am not writing this to boast, or to complain. There is nothing amazing about what I do. Via the web I've met parents of children with greater needs who do more with less resources, and they don't complain either. This is just what we do when we've decided to invest our lives in our offspring. I increasingly believe it is among the holiest of callings, this parenting thing.

Unhindered - For me this means keeping my thought life away from worry, complaining, and other forms of negativity. I try for a daily dose of worship. If I let myself give in to negative thoughts I find myself unable to run the race. I'll be winded on the sidelines before I even hit the starting line.

Persevering - Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Do it again, and again. This doesn't mean you don't take time to rest. I do. Then I get back up and get going again. The alternative just won't work.

Eyes fixed - This is the hard part for me. The author of Hebrews doesn't say, "eyes fixed on...your to do list, your kids, your wallet, or the people around you." Even the Biblical "cloud of witnesses," while encouraging, is not to be our focal point. The focus is Jesus. Why? Because He has already run the race and He is the best example of how to do it...unhindered, persevering, eyes fixed on the joy set before Him. The joy set before me is to hear Him say, "Well done."

That's why and how I'll keep running. Join the race!

This post is participating in the last ever Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge at Steady Mom. I'll miss the opportunity to connect with other bloggers this way. Thanks Jamie for hosting it for so long, and best wishes in your new endeavours.

The Power of Friendship

I have been greatly rejoicing in my friends recently. We had the pleasure of hosting several friends who came to visit over the Summer. Two "college days" friends of my husband came to visit, and one of my friends that I've known since graduate school also stayed with us for a couple of days. Each visit had its own flavor, and each one was special in its own way. These are friends that we don't get to see often, and every minute with them is worth its weight in gold, if minutes can be weighed.

Last week I took my kids on an adventure to San Francisco. We rode the local light rail system (BART) with a more local friend and her kids. We walked by the Ferry Building and then up to Yerba Buena Gardens, which is (ahem) a bit of a hike for six kids and two moms. Along the way I lost (well to be accurate I inadvertently abandoned) my backpack - which contained many important items including my purse, my car keys, and our return tickets on BART. When I realized it was probably back by the Ferry Building I looked in horror at my friend and just said, "Can you take the kids?" She replied, "Call me if you need anything." (She didn't even chew me out for my absent-mindedness!) In between kicking myself all the way back to the Ferry Building and praying to God for a miracle, I marvelled at the strength of a friend who would in the bat of an eye take on my kids in the middle of a crisis and offer more help if needed. If you want to know the end of the story: the backpack was there, untouched, unharmed, slightly warmer from a nap in the sun, and yes my estimation of the honesty of people in general did go up just a pinch. My belief in answered prayers...well!

On the other side of the board, we have several friends that are hurting. Their reasons are personal and even without putting names to them it feels wrong to give details, so let me just say there are half a dozen people around us experiencing truly traumatic life changes and conflicts that are potentially overwhelming. I'm not talking about hangnails here. I am a bit of a "fixer" and it agitates me to no end to know I have friends with problems that I can't fix for them. I can dispense hugs, I can "take their kids" so to speak, I can spend time with them and encourage them, but I can't fix it.

Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times,/ and a brother is born for adversity." (NIV)

The Hebrew word used here for brother is 'ach (awkh), which can mean literal brother, but is also used in the sense of "brother by choice, ally, companion, or colleague." (Strong's Concordance, 251; and Vine's Bible Dictionary) In other words, people were made to stick together - through lost backpacks and high water. We are meant to support and encourage one another.

There's another quote out there on Facebook that grabbed my attention this week, "Never make someone a priority when they just make you an option." It sounds good on the surface, and probably is at some level sage advice, but after thinking about it a minute I thought to myself, "I'm glad Jesus didn't buy that bumper sticker." Speaking only for myself, I made Him "an option" for a long time before I realized how He made me (and the whole world) a priority.

John 15:12-14 (NIV) - Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. [emphasis mine]

Romans 5:7,8 (NIV) - Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [emphasis mine]

I hope, as with all things, that when it comes to friendship I can have the attitude of Christ.

Soccer, Faith, and Challenge.

I love soccer. It is the only sport I ever felt like I was any good at. I played fullback. Unfortunately my knees were not made for soccer and I had to give it up at a rather young age. I've often wondered how different my path might have looked if the mere act of kicking a soccer ball mid-run hadn't sent me down in a heap with a dislocated knee. I've also wondered why I don't enjoy watching soccer more since I liked playing it so much. I'm not much of a sports watcher anyway (except for the Olympics, which I watch as much as possible). Maybe because it wasn't a televised sport when I was growing up, or at least not on the channels our non-cable household could get, I never got in the habit of watching the game.

I have paid more attention to the World Cup this year than previously. Perhaps because I'm such an avid Facebook user and many of my friends are watching and keeping us all posted on World Cup events it has held my interest more, though I haven't watched a game. Team U.S.A. is still in the mix I hear (just barely it sounds like) so maybe I'll have to try to watch, just this once. Especially since a friend of mine forwarded this article to me about the Team U.S.A. goalie, Tim Howard. Beware that when you navigate to this link there is a noisy video ad that plays whether that is your active window or not...

Tim Howard appears to be a great goalie, a good teammate and a competitive player. He is also a faithful follower of Christ, and a man who is affected by Tourette's Syndrome. Sadly the latter fact made him the target of some uninformed individuals who labeled him "retarded". This is a term falling out of favor fast with the special needs community, but it is especially inappropriate for any disorder that does not affect the cognitive domain. We really need to continue to advocate and educate the public at large about the wide variety of issues that can affect development and behavior. The encouraging thing is to read that Mr. Howard's response to the naysayers and his own struggles is to rely on Christ.

"The most important thing in my life is Christ," Howard was quoted as saying. "He's more important to me than winning or losing or whether I'm playing or not. Everything else is just a bonus."

Not much one can say to follow that, except: GOAL!

God's Faithfulness - Fruit of the Spirit Part 7 cont.

We must remember that the fruit of the Spirit is not something we conjure up on our own. It is not by a gut-wrenching, adrenaline forcing, caffeine-fueling drive to meet up to God's standard on our own steam. Time and time again I must remind myself that I will never meet that standard on my own. I must allow Him to supply the power and character to demonstrate His spirit moving in my life. I begin with this thought because as I mused on the idea of faithfulness and what God teaches us about it in His word, I realized that it is His own character, demonstrated in the stories and teachings of the Bible, as well as in our own lives that shows us most what exactly the fruit that He wants to make evident in our own hearts should look like.

You could pick any story from the Bible, and find at the root that it teaches God is faithful. He is always true to His plan to bring us into fellowship with Him. First by creating us, then by withholding judgement until He could make a way to redeem, sanctify, and ultimately glorify us. Every moment of history points to His unending desire to know us and to have us know Him.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) says, "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." This verse inspired the great hymn, "Great is thy Faithfulness" which I always find to be so encouraging.

Great is thy Faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not
As thou has been, thou forever wilt be.

Summer and Winter and Springtime and Harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars, in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To thy great faithfulness mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand besides.

Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness
Lord, unto me!

And what better time of year to consider just how faithful God has been to us. Considering how faithless we sometimes are, and yet he continues to pour out on us His great love, His ever new compassions, His own hand providing what we truly need. I hope each of us will be able to reflect on His faithfulness and at the same time understand that He wants to impart that character onto us, His children.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Childlike Faithfulness - Fruit of the Spirit Part 7

We are nearing the end of our journey through the Fruit of the Spirit. It's been an amazing exercise to consider how God is using our children to teach us the character qualities that He wants to supply in our lives. Faithfulness as used by Paul in Galatians 5:22 is the Greek word pistis, which means conviction of truth, reliance upon Christ for salvation, and constancy in such profession. Faithfulness is a challenging proposition these days. At the risk of being considered dogmatic, we hold to the central root of our faith that one comes to salvation through Christ alone.

My daughter has not yet accepted this truth as her own. This is one of the primary reasons that I started this blog. I have big questions about how to impart faith to her in view of her learning differences. She is immersed in a community of faith. We attend church each week. We are working on making Sunday School a place that will meaningfully communicate God's truth to her. At home we pray before meals and before bed. I have recently asked her to pray for specific friends or problems, and I try to point out miraculous things we encounter along the way (like the day we found important confidential papers that had fallen out of our stroller about six hours earlier). I hope for the day that she will ask more questions about who God is, why Jesus came, and what it can mean for her. Since she just recently started asking even concrete questions I sometimes wonder if I should just be initiating the conversation more, but if she isn't asking is she really ready? The debate just rages in my mind until I entrust even this significant piece of her future to the only One who already knows.

Still this child can teach me some important things about faithfulness. Regarding the conviction of the truth I can learn a lot. My daughter is among every other quality very truthful. I don't think the idea of falsehood has even entered the edges of her understanding yet. Even when it would serve her own interests (of which she is keenly aware) she tells the truth. When I hear one of her siblings crying and I suspect she has had something to do with that I can ask her, "Did you hit him?" and she will say "Yes, I hit him." and off to the time-out area we go. She is also pretty firmly fixed in what she thinks is right. There is very little gray in her universe. Items are liked or not liked, rules (though challenging to obey) are powerful, and friends are forever. While this steadfastness can lead to problems - e.g. in a sea of children insisting on playing with only one because "she's my friend' - it can also be inspirational to watch. Do I speak truth with so little self-consciousness? Do I hold fast to what I believe is right? With God's graceful provision I can!