Unforced Rhythms of Grace

This week I have been thinking about how God is always teaching us.  I never expected that my goal to run a 5k in under 40 minutes would bring me to such a place where I had to explore some of my deepest wounds.  I started sharing goals on Facebook last year which was a huge step.  I even talked about hitting a wall in my blog.  That said I have stayed away from really sharing about the struggle. These few weeks I have found God calling me to move past that.  When I have shared that I am struggling people have been profoundly supportive.  I am bolstered by their support.  And I am happy to report that for the past two weeks at my running class I have someone to run with. Sometimes I have felt like these goals are self-indulgent.  Now I know that I have been really living.  And God has been using these times to help me face my insecurities about not been able to keep up with the group to teach me about asking for and accepting help.  He has also taught me that people are willing to

When I run I typically listen to a Podcast that I have downloaded.  I have been downloading Podcasts from my own church that I have missed.  More often (since I don’t miss that many and there would only be one a week anyway) I listen to other pastors.  On Monday I was listening to Shane Hipps .  He is a teacher at Mars Hill Church in Michigan.  You may be more familiar with the lead Pastor from that church Rob Bell . Shane was speaking on the concept of calling.  As I was in my last running interval he said something like this: “God wants us to do this stuff because he thinks they will be fun for us.”  He challenged the idea that if we don’t answer our calling we will anger or disappoint God.  He wants the best for us.  He thinks we will enjoy these things.  Will we always enjoy them?  Probably not.  In the learning stages and through some difficult times our calling will be just plain hard and no fun at all.  But overall, we are called to things that God knows will nourish our soul. 

Well I have to admit that this week has been less than stellar in terms of resolution progress.  My food intake was only about 50% healthy.  I owe this partially to the fact that I wasn’t prepared going into the week and then my car wasn’t working properly with the cold weather here.  I did make some progress though.  I worked out four times.  I prayed most days. My Scripture reading isn’t where I want it to be.  That said I am realizing today that perhaps I can’t make all of these changes at once.  I will try again once I have a strong foundation of working out and I get back into a rhythm. I signed up for a running clinic.  It started yesterday.  So there I was dressed in layers to run in –30 Celsius without the wind chill.  The weather itself didn’t end up that bad.  But to be honest II struggled.  I knew I ran slow but it became all the more apparent when I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the group (all beginning runners.)  The instructor came back for me a couple of times.  Sti

After I posted about my resolutions I found myself coming across other things I ‘should’ have put on there: - oh I shouldn’t be on Facebook so much - oh I should clean out the closet in the bedroom - oh I should have been more specific/strict about the definition of a healthy meal And the list goes on. All of these things are good things to do.  What I found out was that my resolutions focused me.  I was able to say, “yes but that’s not what I am working on right now.”  It seemed that none of them were more important than the things I was already working on.  And some of them might never happen or will happen naturally as a subset of what I am already doing. I have made some progress on my resolutions.  I realized that I needed a plan and a way to measure them.  I am using a calendar I got for free to record the number of healthy meals, workouts, times I prayed, time I spent on scripture, events with friends, and photography sessions. Working out has been going very well.  I

I remember the day I all of a sudden felt like I was ready to move.  It was December 30th.  In the days leading up to my vacation I had felt a considerable pull to watch television, play video games, have naps, read, or do anything that didn’t require energy or thought.  From about December 23rd on, I did very little.  I didn’t feel well.  I was tired.  I enjoyed my time with friends but I also felt like I needed considerable time at home. I have typically viewed this as behaviour I want to change.  Yet knowing how I felt suddenly on December 30th I wonder if this is the way God built me.  My periods of rest involve things that others may view as ‘wasting my time’.   It wasn’t a waste of time.   I think it is what I needed. If at that point I would have been exercising regularly, I would have kept it up.  Food is always an issue during the holidays but I think I would have had a better time of eating healthy if I had been doing that all along.  So maybe the key is not punishing mysel