The blessings in life

Today I went to a visitation. I know this doesn't fit the title, but just hear me out... This week I learned that a student's mom died.  She had battled with breast cancer for several years but was in remission for 4 years. She had a brain aneurism and died Tuesday night. This was sudden. She was sick, but they didn't know that she had Leukemia.  This student is always asking me for a hug, and she is always asking me when she'll see me again. Her confidence is lacking and now she will have no mom in her life to help that.  It breaks my heart. I'm not sure if this student understands what has happened yet.  I think that any time you face death, it doesn't become real until a few days after the funeral.  But this is her mom that hasn't been around for a few days, so who knows. Her face at the visitation seemed like she was kind of living in a dream land.

That same day we heard about the student's mom, we learned later that a teacher friend had lost her 3 month old son while he was at the sitters. She had just come back from maternity leave and he fell asleep for his nap and suffocated when he rolled over. This poor woman. I can't imagine the pain she must feel to lose a child.  I don't know if she'll ever get to the point where she can move on, at least no time soon.

So now that I've posted some pretty depressing things, the reason I have the title "the blessings in life" is because we must remember that the Lord gives but the Lord takes away.  We do not know his plan, but we must trust that He is good. He knows what's best, and He loves us.  Sometimes we can't see that (or rather we refuse to) because what we are going through seems to be so bad. But I need to remember that I am blessed.

This week was a particularly hard week for me. I had 2 conference nights (12 hour work days), learning about 2 deaths, drama at work, and a particularly difficult argument with Kenny. I had not gotten a single evening to be at home and went to bed after 11 every night of the week.

Still, I am blessed. I have a wonderful husband to have an argument with, I have a job that I love, I have students that I care about as well as colleagues that I care about, and I have a passion for my job that causes difficulty and drama when discussing students. Among these things I have wonderful friends, a great church, a house, food, a wonderful loving family, clothes, a great dog, and again, a fantastic husband. I know I can find more things, but the point is that I am blessed.

The hard part to realize is that even though these things are wonderful and enrich my life, they are after all, just things (yes, even my husband, family, and friends). The Lord can take all these things away from me and I still should say that I am blessed because of my God. All in all, God is what matters in my life, He is what makes my life blessed. He is what gives me hope and helps me to move on through life.

When bad things happen like losing your mom or even child, we must remember that as hard as it may be to see it, we are still blessed because we have the Lord as our Savior.

Another 3.1 miles...

     Tonight I ran my 4th 5K race.  I completely realize that running 3 miles to a person that runs is nothing (a lot do this on a daily basis).  But if you know me, you know that I was NEVER a runner. In college I lived in a house full of runners and I'd sit on the couch while they got in an "easy" 7... when I tried to run a mile, I almost passed out! I couldn't believe how difficult it was!
   
     While growing up I danced. That was my activity. It may have been dance team, show choir, theatre, or just plain fun dancing, but that was how I kept in shape.  I had no idea that running required a whole new set of muscles and a different type of stamina. I had learned to do some pretty intense dancing while singing (and singing well), so I could regulate my breathing, I had endurance, and I had stamina but apparently I had to rebuild my stamina for this type of exercise. (The picture is of me... center... my mom and my sister after running my 2nd and their first 5K last year).
   
     Tonight's run was very difficult. I have had a lot of congestion last weekend and it lasted until Tuesday night, so I didn't run Monday or Tuesday morning. I did run Wednesday, Thursday I lifted weights and did a small bit of cardio, but because I was awake really late on Thursday night doing a college assignment I didn't run on Friday... so... 1 run for the week... congestion... and to top it all off, on Friday I must have bumped my knee on a desk at work and Friday night I couldn't bend my knee or put a lot of pressure on it. I was sure I would be walking the entire race! This particular race (the Reggae Run) is in Ault Park in Cincinnati... which is all hills.... and big hills. I told Kenny that if I finished before 40 minutes I'd be happy...

I ran this race in 34 minutes and 15 seconds! I'd say the first 2-3 minutes of the race I was walking with my dear friend Gabe because we were toward the middle of the 5,000 person pack and there was no room to run, so I probably did better than my posted time! I was so excited. Running this race makes me think of the endurance, focus, perseverance, and determination it takes to live life.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever, Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

We are called to "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" Colossians 3:23. I think one of the biggest thing I can learn is to apply the same endurance, perseverance, and even competitive nature to everything I do. It is important to train for my life as a representative of the Lord. I need to make sure that I'm ready for all the hills, cramps, and pains this life throws at me. I need to push through those ailments and have a goal, a target that I'm trying to reach. Living life aimlessly is tiring and hopeless, living life for the Lord gives me joy and an understanding of all the twists and turns, and it makes the prize that I'm running for real and ever lasting.

Isaiah 40: 31 says:
"but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

This gives me hope that when bumps in the road of life occur, I know that the Lord will carry me through because I am not running this race aimlessly.