Winning the Race

It is THAT time of year again.  It is that time of year that teachers and students are d.o.n.e, DONE.  It is that time of year again that we read the OMG, hilarious “Worst End of Year Parent Ever” blog by Jen Hatmaker and some yell a resounding “YES SISTER!”  It is the time of year where the days get sunnier and warmer and prettier and lots of parents, especially moms, are done with the homework helping, lunch packing, and the school function attending rig-a-maroll that comes with the school year.  We are ready for summer!  BRING IT ON!

BUT (yeah, if you know me, you knew there was a “but” comin’)…here’s the thing…I know the “I’m over it” feeling.  I totally understand that after being cooped up in a house for a few months because the weather outside is frightful, we just want to go outside and run and play. I understand being brain drained.  I understand spring fever.  I understand senioritis.  I’ve been there.  Heck, I is there… But I also understand the importance of endurance and finishing.

WHAT???  Come on you crazy blogging, kill joy lady!  Endurance and Finishing???

Yep, endurance and finishing.

These two things are so important that Paul talks about the in the Bible, MULTIPLE times.  Paul???  Yep…Paul…that dude that heard from God a ton, and wrote it down, and it makes up most of our New Testament…that Paul.

Fight the good fight   1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the battle well  1 Timothy 1:18

Finish the race  Acts 20:24

Run to WIN! 1 Corinthians 9:24

Yeah, I know Paul is talking about life, the good fight, the ultimate race and not about finishing the school year.  But…(there’s always a but!)

But here’s my question…

If I can’t finish the school year well and I can’t teach my kids how to finish the school year strong then how in the world can I teach myself and my kids how to run the race of life and finish it strong…finish it well.

OUCH!

If I want to finish things well…well..then I have to FINISH THINGS and CHOOSE to finish them well.  If I want my kids to learn how to finish well…well…then I better teach them how, because the world sure ain’t teaching them this skill.

So here’s my challenge to all my burnt out friends (and I be talkin’ to me too).  To all those in blog-land who want to pull up a chair and have a glass of wine with Jen Hatmaker (who wouldn’t) and discuss the woes of the sucky end of school season. (An aside, I do LOVE Hatmaker’s blogs and books.  She is so so so good lots of the time…she knows she ain’t perfect, just like I know I ain’t perfect….we’re just not on the same wave length on this one…and that’s OK!)

The challenge is….FINISH WELL!  Buck up campers!  It doesn’t matter if we want school to end or not…it’s only a matter of time before it does.  We can’t control how fast or slow the days move.  We can’t control what day it is on the calendar.  We can’t control lot of things (and that’s a whole ‘notha blog)…

BUT (there’s that but again)

We can control how we live out the next few weeks.  We can control what we show our kids.  We can control our actions and our words and our attitudes.  (Yeah, the attitude one is hard for me too).

Let’s teach these rascals the good Lord entrusted to us how to not just hang on by a thread and endure the pain of a season we don’t like.  Let’s teach these rascals how to RUN, how to THRIVE, how to FINISH STRONG.  Let’s model to our kids what God has called us to do.

We might be suckin’ wind at the end…

But dang if it won’t be a ridiculous, glorious feeling to go pounding over that finish line running like Phoebe from Friends, with a big ol’ goofy, proud smile on our faces. (And imagine the grins from those rascals…melt your momma heart)

FINISH STRONG!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a choice thang

The word CHOICE has been showing up in my life a lot lately.  It’s showed up in Bible study.  It’s showed up in raising 3 kids.  It’s showed up in every single aspect of life.

CHOICE

I have a choice.

I can choose to drag my butt out of bed in the morning even though I am tired and the bed is oh so snuggly, buggly, comfy.

I can choose to brush my teeth (and all I know shout a rousing “AMEN” that I have chosen to do so)

I can choose to eat breakfast or to not to.  I can choose junk food or good for me food. (My mouth wants the junk food, but my butt wants to not knock lamps off of tables as I walk by – so Grapenuts it is)

I can choose to require that my children get ready and go to school.  (Is it really a choice or is it more a sanity for the mama thing?)  I can choose to make them a lunch or jut wish them good luck as I kick them out the door. (Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya…Marsh monkeys…out!)

I can choose to sit down each morning with my cup of coffee (after Jesus, coffee is God’s greatest gift to mothers) and sit down with my Bible and spend some time with my Lord.

I can choose to believe that He loves me or I can choose to believe He’s mad at me.

Afterwards I can choose to sit on the couch all day or I can choose to get up and clean my house. (It’s amazing how having 3 children at home for more than 5 minutes can make your house look like the Tasmanian devil from Bugs Bunny just had a heyday in your living room)

I can choose to run errands.  I can choose to go to the grocery store to get food for my family. (And I can choose to be a mean ol’ cuss to others in the store or I can choose to be thankful that God has provided so I can go grocery shopping)

I can choose to help or not help my kids with their homework (unless it’s Common Core math…never a choice…just pure evil)

I can choose to give my husband my full attention and be genuinely interested in his day at work. (You’ve heard “happy wife, happy life”? It’s the same for the hubby)

I can choose to cook dinner for my family. (Or deal with hangry terrorists later)

I can choose to force my children to bathe which includes soaping all parts so they don’t smell. (Thank you JESUS for indoor plumbing)

I can choose to stay up late or go to bed at a decent hour (But reruns of Friends are the BEST)

And then I have 5000 other choices I make every single day.

Here’s what I know.  Most of these choices won’t really affect my life in a huge way that particular day.  But when you add up a year of little good choices vs. little bad choices…well life looks a whole lot better when you’ve been making little good choice.

God was so bold as to create us with the ability to choose.  Oh, He could have just made us drooling robots that never had a choice but what’s the fun in that?  But with the gift of choice, He also gave consequences based on those choices.  Consequences are good and bad, my friends.  If I choose to love and adore and honor and respect my man, I am going to have one heck of an awesome marriage and one heck of a happy man.  If I choose to nag and criticize him all the time, well…the brother ain’t gonna stick around too long.

We live in a day and age that tells us that what happens to us in our lives is not a culmination of our choices.  Well campers, I’m here to tell y’all….that’s a load of BULL!  We aren’t always going to choose well but we will choose…thousands of times a day.  Yes, sometimes we get smacked in the head with something bad that had nothing to do with us.  But even then, we have a choice…how am I going to respond?  Am I going to choose to stay knocked down or am I going to get up, dust myself off and make choices in my life that make the devil, every morning, say “Oh CRAP, she’s up”

You have a choice knockin’ at your door….make it a good one.