I'm not the runner I used to be.
Of course I'm slower. But it's much deeper than that. When I started running, I was in love with the thrill of competition. I loved entering local 5Ks. I even walked on the track team my junior year. I ran six days a week, regardless of the weather or my schedule. I did long runs on Saturdays and workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays. I was consistent in my mileage and logged every single run. I wanted to get faster and discover how well I could actually do if I trained properly. I loved it. For a while...
After a few years, though, it was like a switch went off: this running stuff, though I loved it, was adding stress to my life. (For those of you who still train seriously and race well, my hat goes off to you! You've got a gene that I don't have.) :)
Loved the running, didn't love the stress. So I de-stressed my training. I tossed the racing flats. I lost my training log. I would run long only if I felt like it and if it wasn't raining. Didn't keep up with days, miles, or shoes. No more workouts. No more racing.
I allowed my running to become my solace. My time with God. My deep breath of nature and exercise and prayer. And I loved it.
Funny how a few years can change your outlook on running.
A few years can also change your outlook on Christmas. :)
Man, what kid doesn't love Christmas, right? Growing up, Christmas season started at 5:00 AM on Black Friday when my mom, my sister and I got all of our Christmas shopping done in one manic trip. (You know, back when stores were closed on Thanksgiving Day.) I loved the decorating, the eighteen parties and get-togethers, the food, and MOST of all, the presents. I had a list a mile long, from my favorite candy to some big-ticket items. I loved seeing family, I loved the lights, I loved the excitement of it all. And, because I was raised in a Christian family, I even loved the Christmas program at church and the potluck meal with my parents' Sunday school class. I couldn't get enough of it all. I loved it. For a while...
After leaving my parents home and becoming an adult, it was like a switch went off: this Christmas stuff, though I loved it, was adding stress to my life. (For those of you who still do all the Christmas stuff and do it well, my hat goes off to you. You've got a gene that I don't have.) :)
Loved Christmas, didn't love the stress. So I de-stressed my Christmas. I whittled down my shopping list by calling friends and family members and just simply asking them if we could not do gifts. (100% of the time they responded with Yes! What a wonderful idea.) For the gifts I did buy, I got very boring: I asked them what they wanted and got that very thing. (No worries about finding the perfect gift! They would tell me!) I made most of my purchases online. I cut back on decorating, opting for a simple tree (that I put up and let my kids decorate without any input from me) and one stocking per child. The food I make to take places is simple and easy. We don't go to every open house, every family get-together, and every Christmas program. We're a weird family because of what we don't do at Christmas.
The craziest thing, though, is my list: it's almost empty. (My list this year had these exact things on it: oven mitts, a rain coat, and a gift card to House Blend. I'm not kidding.) I truly would rather sit and visit with a friend for an hour than get anything in the world. And I am SO much more excited about seeing my kids and parents play together than receiving anything my mom could buy at a mall. (And she's a really good shopper!) If you could give me about 48 hours alone as a Christmas gift, I'd like time to write cards and tell people how much I love them and how much they mean to me. If I could ask for only one thing, it would be this: that I show people Jesus at Christmas by the love and peace He gives me.
Funny how a few years can change your outlook on Christmas.
May you be blessed with a memorable Christmas and an ever-deepening relationship with our Lord.
Leslie Hudson
Friday, December 19, 2014
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Running Like a 3-year-old
During Thanksgiving break, my 3-year-old daughter Shelby and I had a few hours of one-on-one "girl time." It was a perfect fall day and we had a neighbor who was out of town needing her dog fed. Perfect opportunity to combine a good long walk with helping a friend!
So we started down our dead-end, rarely traveled, five-houses-in-a-mile-and-a-half road. Immediately, because she's three, she said, "Let's run!" The elevation from our house to our neighbor's house is primarily downhill, so I told her I'd run whenever she wanted.
I had no idea that she would run most of the way. (I also would have worn something other than jeans, for one thing!) She would sprint as hard as she could for as long as she could, then walk for about 20 steps, only to start sprinting again. I was so proud. And shocked. And out of breath. (And I call myself a runner! I couldn't even keep up with a 3-year-old going downhill!)
We got to our neighbor's house and took care of her dog. I looked at Shelby and said, "Are you ready to head back?" She looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Mama, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it back home."
She was spent.
You see, she ran like a 3-year old: all out, resting just long enough to catch her breath, then all out again. Over and over.
She asked me if I could carry her back. (Uphill? Over a mile? Yeah, right!) I told her I couldn't. But I promised her that we could rest whenever she needed and I would go as slowly as she wanted.
We made it about 100 yards before she told me she was just too tired to keep going. We both sat down in the middle of the road and I rubbed her legs as she sipped water. After a few minutes we hopped up and started again, resting regularly and making sure not to overdo it.
And that's how we traveled back home: walk, rest, drink, repeat.
The whole episode was hilarious, and at first I found it funny to reflect on how unrestrained and unprepared a 3-year-old is for a 3-mile run.
But then I realized her run looked a lot like my life.
I go too hard for too long, not stopping to rest or recover. I pause just long enough to catch my breath, only to go hard again.
And then I realize I'm spent: spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I look at the hill in front of me and say, "I don't think I'm going to be able to make it."
Come on, you've done it too, either in running or in life. Probably both :)
But though we've all come to the point of exhaustion in our lives, there's some great advice we can learn from little Shelby when we find ourselves at the bottom of the hill with a long way to go:
There's no rush. Though we live in a fast-paced world, our loving Heavenly Father is not rushing you. In fact we are told to "wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord," (Psalm 27:14). Let Him set the pace. He won't leave you behind!
You need nourishment. Shelby and I drank almost an entire liter of water on the return trip home, primarily because we never stopped to drink on the way out. Just as it's easy to get dehydrated on a run, it's easy to forget the importance of being filled spiritually, too. Luckily our Father is a Shepherd who "leads us beside still waters" and "refreshes our soul," (Psalm 23). Let Him nourish you with His Word, His presence, His peace.
Rest regularly. Not just sleep. (Though sleep is necessary, too!) REST. Sit for just a few minutes and ask God to clear your heart and your mind. Dwell on His Word as you drive or fold laundry or rock your baby. You don't need perfect peace and quiet to find rest; you find rest when you focus on God, trusting His love for you. "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my salvation comes from Him," (Psalm 62:5). God rested on the seventh day; we are commanded to rest, as well. Not just to renew our bodies, but to refresh our souls!
YOU WILL MAKE IT. I promise. Maybe not how you thought or as fast as you'd hoped or at the pace you started, but you will make it. Through this season. Through this week. Through this year. Through this life. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," (2 Timothy 4:7).
When you can't make it, someone will carry you. I admit I did carry Shelby through the steepest part. And God will never fail to carry you when you need Him. "I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you," (Isaiah 46:4).
Don't get spent! Run with perseverance and keep that focus on Jesus! (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Leslie Hudson
So we started down our dead-end, rarely traveled, five-houses-in-a-mile-and-a-half road. Immediately, because she's three, she said, "Let's run!" The elevation from our house to our neighbor's house is primarily downhill, so I told her I'd run whenever she wanted.
I had no idea that she would run most of the way. (I also would have worn something other than jeans, for one thing!) She would sprint as hard as she could for as long as she could, then walk for about 20 steps, only to start sprinting again. I was so proud. And shocked. And out of breath. (And I call myself a runner! I couldn't even keep up with a 3-year-old going downhill!)
We got to our neighbor's house and took care of her dog. I looked at Shelby and said, "Are you ready to head back?" She looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Mama, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it back home."
She was spent.
You see, she ran like a 3-year old: all out, resting just long enough to catch her breath, then all out again. Over and over.
She asked me if I could carry her back. (Uphill? Over a mile? Yeah, right!) I told her I couldn't. But I promised her that we could rest whenever she needed and I would go as slowly as she wanted.
We made it about 100 yards before she told me she was just too tired to keep going. We both sat down in the middle of the road and I rubbed her legs as she sipped water. After a few minutes we hopped up and started again, resting regularly and making sure not to overdo it.
And that's how we traveled back home: walk, rest, drink, repeat.
The whole episode was hilarious, and at first I found it funny to reflect on how unrestrained and unprepared a 3-year-old is for a 3-mile run.
But then I realized her run looked a lot like my life.
I go too hard for too long, not stopping to rest or recover. I pause just long enough to catch my breath, only to go hard again.
And then I realize I'm spent: spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I look at the hill in front of me and say, "I don't think I'm going to be able to make it."
Come on, you've done it too, either in running or in life. Probably both :)
But though we've all come to the point of exhaustion in our lives, there's some great advice we can learn from little Shelby when we find ourselves at the bottom of the hill with a long way to go:
There's no rush. Though we live in a fast-paced world, our loving Heavenly Father is not rushing you. In fact we are told to "wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord," (Psalm 27:14). Let Him set the pace. He won't leave you behind!
You need nourishment. Shelby and I drank almost an entire liter of water on the return trip home, primarily because we never stopped to drink on the way out. Just as it's easy to get dehydrated on a run, it's easy to forget the importance of being filled spiritually, too. Luckily our Father is a Shepherd who "leads us beside still waters" and "refreshes our soul," (Psalm 23). Let Him nourish you with His Word, His presence, His peace.
Rest regularly. Not just sleep. (Though sleep is necessary, too!) REST. Sit for just a few minutes and ask God to clear your heart and your mind. Dwell on His Word as you drive or fold laundry or rock your baby. You don't need perfect peace and quiet to find rest; you find rest when you focus on God, trusting His love for you. "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my salvation comes from Him," (Psalm 62:5). God rested on the seventh day; we are commanded to rest, as well. Not just to renew our bodies, but to refresh our souls!
YOU WILL MAKE IT. I promise. Maybe not how you thought or as fast as you'd hoped or at the pace you started, but you will make it. Through this season. Through this week. Through this year. Through this life. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," (2 Timothy 4:7).
When you can't make it, someone will carry you. I admit I did carry Shelby through the steepest part. And God will never fail to carry you when you need Him. "I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you," (Isaiah 46:4).
Don't get spent! Run with perseverance and keep that focus on Jesus! (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Leslie Hudson
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