Author: Chrisy

Time Marches On

How did it get to be the first of October already? For that matter, how did it get to be the last quarter of 2012?

Jr. Comets cheer leading/football season is almost over. Only two more practices and one more game with my girls.

I am wearing a sweater today as the high temp is 66. What a difference from a month ago when we were still in the 90’s.

I watched my Jr. High daughter march in her first parade a week ago, and play with the GHS band at the football game Friday night.

Every day for the last (6 months?) week, my son has reminded me that he turns nine this Thursday and has his first sleepover birthday party on Friday.

Most of the time, life is so busy there is no time to notice how fast the time is going. But sometimes, it just hits me that in spite of (because of?) the busyness of life, time keeps moving. Faster and faster.

Never is this more evident than as our children’s birthdays approach. Wasn’t it just last month that I was caring for this 10 pound 1 ounce, 23 1/2 inch long baby (or toddler as my husband said I gave birth to)? Wasn’t it just last week that this rough-and-tumble toddler got stitches in his eyelid, bit through his tongue and got stitches in the top of his head in a three-month period of time? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we gave up teaching him how to ride a bike and he decided to get on it and ride away? When did his legs get so long that they hang off my lap? When did he get so strong?

I am blessed beyond words to be the mother of this little boy. I have learned much, including how to be more off-the-cuff and spur-of-the-moment, how to parent a less-compliant child whose heart is harder to pierce during times of discipline, how to look the other way when the daredevil in him kicks in, how to play light sabres, football and baseball, and more about Star Wars than I ever deemed possible.

So, as we approach 9 years with this not-so-little boy, I continue to look for those pockets of time to enjoy him now, like this morning as I woke him up for school singing to him, and the nights that he tucks me in and I get good snuggles, and the times he and I get an evening to ourselves, because time keeps moving and he keeps growing and it won’t be long and he will be moving on to start a life of his own. And I want to make sure that both he and I have great memories to look back on and a great relationship to build on in the years to come.

Happy Birthday, Ty! You are definitely my favorite little boy, ever!

Food and Fitness Friday: A Change in Language

There is a phrase that I don’t let my kids use: I can’t. When teaching them to ride their bikes, they would often say, “but I can’t do it,” to which I would reply, yes, you can. When Ty says he can’t get his room clean, I say, yes you can, you are choosing not to do it. (Or sometimes I say, yes, you are right, you can’t get your room clean when you are out here talking instead of cleaning it, but that’s another blog post.)

But for some reason, I haven’t yet completely banished the words, “I can’t,” from the things that I say, and I would venture a guess you have the same problem.

When on a “diet,” are you more likely to say, “I can’t have __________?”

Or how about exercise, do you find yourself saying, “I can’t stay here (in bed, on the couch) because I have to go do _____________?”

I have learned that as people find out that I don’t eat meat, eggs, dairy, and sweets (mostly), if we are having a meal together they will say things like, “Oh, that’s right, you can’t have ________.” But that isn’t a true statement, which is why I am working on changing my language when it comes to my choice in diet and exercise.

Instead of saying “I can’t” I am saying “I choose.” For example, I choose to not eat meat. I choose to get up at 3:41 a.m. (yes, alarms will set that early in the morning) to go for our long Sunday runs. I choose to eat whole wheat spaghetti without meat and Parmesan cheese. I choose to eat a taco salad covered in black beans instead of taco meat. I choose to make meal prep a little more challenging instead of just opening a box of mac and cheese and a package of hot dogs.

Changing the way I refer to (food, exercise, whatever) doesn’t necessarily make the choices easier, but it makes it feel like I am making a choice, rather than being denied something I would rather have.

Think about it. Which statement makes you feel good and which one makes you want to cheat?

  • I can’t have a piece of that pumpkin toffee cheesecake, so I guess I’ll have some fruit.
  • I choose to have a bowl of fruit instead of a piece of cheesecake.

It’s more empowering to make a good choice. And the more good choices you make, the more likely you are to continue making good choices. But if you are constantly feeling like you are being denied something because you can’t have it, eventually your inner 4-year-old is going to rebel and you are going to have it if you want it, by golly! 🙂

So today I want to challenge you to change the way you refer to the choices you are making for your health. Choose the good instead of denying yourself what you see as bad (but pleasurable). It won’t be long and you will see a huge difference in the way you feel about your choices.

What area offers you the biggest challenge to say “I choose” instead of “I can’t?”

Trust and Confidence

Last night I watched as Anne was working to perfect her standing back handspring on the tumble track during her tumbling class. She has been working on this for a long time and watching it come was fun. As I have been watching her over the last couple of months, I just kept thinking that she needed to have confidence in her ability to do it before she was willing to try. It’s a scary trick. In a walkover or a limber, you bend over and put your hands on the ground before you bring your legs over your head. But in a handspring, your feet leave the ground before your hands hit the ground to help propel your feet around.

But as I watched last night, I realized there is another part to it as well. She had to trust her teacher to let her know when it was okay to try it on her own. Hannah was right there, spotting Anne as she flipped, right up until the time that Hannah felt Anne could do it on her own. When that time came, Anne was ready, but not until Hannah told her she was ready.

As I was writing in my journal last night when we got home it occurred to me that our walk with Christ is like that. We put our trust in Him, and when our trust is fully in Him, we have the confidence that is needed to follow His lead and do what He asks us to do.

If that is true, then when we know what our call is, but we are hesitant to step out in faith to follow it, is it because we haven’t fully placed our trust in Him?

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” When we truly put our trust in Him, and we step out confidently to do what it is that He has called us to do, we are blessed.

Sometimes stepping out to do something new is scary. But when God calls us to do something, it is because He says we are ready, and we have to trust Him. And that trust brings us the confidence to do what we are called to do. Which in turn, brings us blessing, but more importantly, brings God glory.

What has God called you to do that you have been hesitating to do? I encourage you to step out confidently today and trust that you are ready. God says so.

Blocked and Busy

I’ve been trying to write this blog post for days. And I can’t seem to do it. I have had multiple ideas, but none that have jumped out at me. I know the rule to writing is to just start writing and it will come, but with no starting point, I have been stuck.

Then add to my writer’s block a brain that is full (to overflowing) with schedules and to do lists that are ever-changing, filling up, and getting longer, and you get one overwhelmed Chrisy.

And I think the blocked is connected to the busy.

When I am busy, I have less and less time to feed my soul. I don’t get to read, fiction or non-fiction, for work or pleasure, I don’t get to have lengthy conversations about what is going on at home/work/in the world around me, and I don’t get quiet time to spend listening.

When you spend all your time pouring out and no time refilling, renewing, or being refreshed, there’s nothing left at the end of the day.

I’m tired of feeling that way, but I am not sure how to change it. Some things that are taking up my time are not of my choosing: school expectations outside of school hours, work activities that are on evenings and weekends. Other things I am choosing to do because of a specific call to do them, like coaching cheer leading. There are other things – the activities my kids want to do outside of school – that I could say no to, but it’s really only one activity each and they need to be able to do those things they enjoy.

So, I guess I have to find ways to refill, find pockets of time in the busy schedule, and listen in the midst of chaos so even in the midst of busy, I don’t have to be blocked.

Now, any ideas on how to make that happen? 🙂

Food and Fitness Friday: Random Thoughts

I have a few different things rolling around in my head this morning and since I can’t decide which direction to go, I’ll just touch on a few things..

  • I have never had a terrible complexion; a few pimples here and there with more at certain times, less at others. Since switching my diet to a whole foods, plant-based one, I have noticed that I have fewer and fewer blemishes on my face. I know regular exercise is a key in this as well, but the combination of diet and exercise are having very positive effects on my skin. (And, as if to prove my point, I had some dairy while at a conference this week – because eating out is extremely difficult on a vegan diet – and a couple of spots showed up on my face last night.)
  • I need exercise to function well. A couple of days off because of being out-of-town and on a different schedule and I got tired and lethargic and wanted to quit exercising altogether. An hour and a half of yoga this morning (that my body desperately needed) and I am feeling ready to take on this training challenge again. (And it might help that our weekend runs are shorter this time.)
  • I made some food choices while out-of-town this week that weren’t great. Fat-filled. Cheesy. Too much. And boy was I not only miserable from eating too much and differently than my body has gotten accustomed to, but I was ready to be back home where I had more control/choices of what to eat. The veggie burger, covered in veggies, that I had for dinner last night was amazing and filling and I was ready for it. I am already thinking about what yummy goodness I will be making for dinner tonight with my slew of fresh produce from the co-op this week.

How are you doing these days? Are you finding the food and exercise combination that works for you?

 

The Kingdom

I am at a conference so I don’t have time to write a full post, but one thing that was said yesterday (among many) that got me thinking is this, “feeding the poor is not a sales job for the gospel, it is the gospel.”

How often do we do things because we think it will lead others to Christ, rather than doing things because it is what Christ would do?

I am sure I will expand more on this another time, but I wanted to get you all thinking about this with me, and maybe even start a conversation. Leave me your thoughts on this and let’s see what we can learn from one another about is idea.

No Condemnation

Everything I have run across in the last couple of weeks keeps sending me back to Romans 8. Devotionals, Facebook posts, church, etc. It must be time for me to spend some time there again. In the meantime, I read this recently and thought that I would share it with you.

Condemnation is a heavy burden to bear. No matter the source of the condemnation and no matter the reason, condemnation crushes the life out of us all when given the opportunity. Many of us live our lives condemned because we have been unable or unwilling to permit that burden to be removed. Sometimes the condemnation is self-imposed, and we just cannot forgive ourselves for what seems to be, in our own estimation, some great failure. Sometimes the condemnation comes from outside ourselves for failures in the eyes of others. Whether these failures are relatively insignificant or enormous, the burden of condemnation is hard to bear. Therefore the words of Jesus–“neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again” (John 8:11)–are music to our ears. To know that we do not need to carry the failures of the past into the future is good news indeed. Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 3:17). The good news for all of us declares that the chains binding us to past failures can be broken; we can be set free to live all our tomorrows without condemnation.

Stop and think for a moment about all those memories that keep invading your consciousness to convince you that you are condemned. And then remember these words of the New Testament: “Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34). There is no condemnation for those who walk with Christ.

Today offer all the condemnations of the past and present–silly and substantial–to God in Christ Jesus and hear the words of Jesus addressed to you: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” And now give thanks to God that you are free of the burden of condemnation.

–Rueben P. Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

A good reminder for those of us who tend to carry guilt and condemnation from various places – both internal and external – that we are not condemned in Christ Jesus. Remember that as you start a new Monday morning today.

Food and Fitness Friday: Sleep

Exercise is important. It is crucial when you are training to be consistent. And yet there is a fine line between pushing through when you are tired, and getting adequate rest when you are exhausted. And it is a really hard line to distinguish sometimes. How do you know when you are just convincing yourself to be lazy vs. actually needing to take the day off?

Sometimes you don’t.

I am a night person. I would much rather stay up late and sleep in than go to bed early to get up well before the butt-crack of dawn. But I also know that if I had to exercise of an evening, I wouldn’t do it. I am too tired from working all day and my couch just sounds so much better than a long run at 5:00 p.m. Not to mention, if I exercise in the evening, I miss time with my family. So I have had to make the hard choice to go to bed early every evening (usually by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m.) so I can get up between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. to exercise (depending on the day, and anticipated length of the workout). And to be perfectly honest, it stinks. I don’t like getting up early. But once I am up, those early morning runs are beautiful, energizing, and, the best part is, they are done. Before 7:00 a.m. And I have the rest of the day to do with as I please.

But sometimes, after some less than stellar nights of sleep, it gets really hard to get up. I’ve been known to turn my alarm off in my sleep and not even know it. When that starts happening, I know my body is crying out for more sleep. But rather than skip a workout, I will first try to get to bed earlier that night. Or if it is the weekend, try to catch a nap. Because training and exercise are so important, I don’t want to miss a workout unless I absolutely can’t do it. But sometimes, it is necessary to get more sleep because the effectiveness of the workout is going to be lessened by the fact that I can’t give what I need to give to it. Or because I my defenses are down and sickness is trying to creep in. So I sleep. And that is ok. The important thing is not to let it happen often, or consecutively. Because it is a lot harder to start again when you have gone a few days (weeks, months) letting yourself sleep in than it is to get back up the next day and get back at it.

Today, my crew and I all slept in instead of doing our Friday yoga. But tomorrow we will be back at it, hitting the roads to log our miles.

What time of day works best for you to workout?

When Ideas and Reality Don’t Meet

I want to be an idealist. Really I do. I want things to work out for the best. I want to see things changed and created in the best ways possible. And I want this to be true in every arena from family life, to work, to schools, to churches, to friendships, to government.

But I always run into a problem. My ideas of how things could and should work don’t match what happens in reality. And this is frustrating to me.

I’m not saying that my ideas are always right and should always be implemented in just the way I envision them, because that isn’t necessarily true, but sometimes I get discouraged with the lack of opportunity to be heard, or even the lack of creative thinking required by a hearer to hear what I am saying.

I know I get stuck in ruts and it is hard to think in different ways, so it is likely that way for most everyone. But just because it is hard, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Just because it requires some extra effort doesn’t mean the process of examining the idea wouldn’t be beneficial.

And when an idealist hits up against reality one to many times, it is easy for them to become disengaged and disheartened at what they see happening around them. It can make an idealist not want to vote in elections anymore because what they think doesn’t matter anyway. It can make them not speak up in meetings anymore where their ideas are never examined. It can stop the outward flow of ideas from happening in the first place.

But we can’t let that happen. Do you think that Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first man with the ideas of equal rights for all? I am sure he wasn’t. Someone else had those same ideas and they got nowhere. The truth is, it just takes sharing your ideas with people who listen and who take those ideas on as something important and necessary. It takes idealists voicing their dreams for anything to change.

We can’t just sit back and say, “it is what it is” and stop thinking and dreaming about what we want life (church, family, government, etc.) to look like. We have to keep dreaming and sharing our ideas if we want to see any difference in our reality. We have to keep believing that change is possible, even if it is hard.

Every idea we have may not bring about change. But one might. Keep dreaming, you idealists!

Monday Music: Find You On My Knees

Life is hard. Life isn’t fair. And sometimes the weight of the world (our world) seems pretty heavy on our shoulders. At least that is true for me.

One day last week a friend and I were talking about this and she had me listen to this song. I sat at my desk and listened with tears streaming down my face. Sometimes, a song can better express how you feel than you can even begin to put into words. Things like “When my hope is gone, when the fear is strong, when the pain is real, when it’s hard to heal, when my faith is shaken and my heart is broken and my joy is stolen, God I know that You lift me up, You’ll never leave me searching” just speak to where I feel like I have been recently.

If you are struggling, listen to this and find encouragement today.

Kari Jobe
Find You On My Knees