Pressing On

I heard at church this past weekend that the average person will make over 35,000 decisions in a day! That's a lot of choices with decisions to make in a 24 hour period. The bottom line of the message was to seek God in every decision no matter how great or small. I can't say I always do that. Most of the decisions I make are based on my feelings, mood or past experiences. I seek God in the big decisions but not always in the little ones like "How would you like me to use my time today?"  I was reminded of the verses in Proverbs: “He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” Proverbs 10:5 NIV And:  “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27 NIV  Oh man, when I am bored, lonely or overwhelmed with too much to do I tend to choose to go to the pantry and eat the bread of idleness. And by bread I mean anything close at hand particu...

As much as I need time alone with God I also know I need people and community in my life. I think it's safe to say we all do. Together is better for many reasons. We need one another to build each other up, encourage one another, challenge each other and hold one another accountable.  When I make a commitment to do something and don't bring others in on that commitment it's much easier to break. Nobody's the wiser. Which is why, when I make a commitment to eat clean I will (most of the time) mention it to Jim That way when I'm in the pantry reaching for those leftover chocolate Easter eggs, I know that he knows I've made a commitment not to eat that stuff. Not that he is the chocolate police and will scold me for it but it's that accountability that I need to finish strong.  Recently, I've been going alone in my fitness regimen. I'm a solo runner and love that. I can also just hop on YouTube for a video and do a workout no problem. We have a...

I love people and get a lot of my energy from spending time with people. I don't like to be alone for any length of time. When I have a long (more than five minute) commute in the car, I will call someone to catch up and have them keep me company.  This is probably why I also enjoy social media. I love connecting and reconnecting with friends. I enjoy looking at their photos and their families. Reading their posts about the latest that is going on in their world. I feel connected and am thankful I have gotten to keep in touch with friends and family and to watch my nieces and nephews grow up via social media, where I otherwise wouldn't have.  But I am learning in this season of my life I also need time alone. It has taken me a little while to adjust to my husband traveling but I'm finding that instead of filling in that quiet space with more people via phone, text or social media, I am resting in the solitude.  I think it is not only healthy but necessary for...

One of our weekend rituals is to run together. My husband travels a lot now so our weekends are spent playing catch up. With each other. We have been running together for so many years now it has just become what we do. However, we don't necessarily do it the same. He likes to listen to music, I like to talk when running with someone. I've learned to respect his space. So I listen to my own music. I have even learned to use this time to be alone with God. I have a longer stride so I tend to run at a little bit of a faster pace. Especially if Annie joins us. Her enthusiasm for running at record pace involuntarily speeds me up.  This past weekend was different. Jim had been gone most of the week. I had a couple of days of rest and was ready to hit the ground running and keep up with Annie. Jim still wasn't able to run. He had a skin cancer removed from his nose a couple of weeks ago and wasn't suppose to be exercising while waiting for it to heal properly. It was a b...