More than once of late (duh!) I have been told that this is a new creative season for me.

 It has been some time since I wrote an actual post.  Awhile ago, I gave myself the nod to plant Theme Songs on Thursdays for growing seed.  Time to tend the shoots.

 So what do my eyes see in the natural world?  Impossibility.  Where do the hours go?  And then when I have some discretionary minutes -- energy and motivation have evaporated.

 My faith eyes counsel me to believe and to walk.  Off we go. . .

 I have resisted mentioning our kiddos directly in blog posts for a number of reasons, which I will not enumerate here.  Just chalk it up to my desire for privacy for them and for me.  From now on I may or may not be more direct in my references to them.  But I won't default to never referencing them.

 That being said, they do inspire and teach me things often.  Many of them write constantly and consistently.  I want to be like them.

 Then there are my friends who inspire and teach me, also.  One such woman made a comment about all of us having "perceived obstacles."

 Recently a saw a meme that said something about when we see obstacles we have taken our focus off of Him.

 Kris Vallotton shared that God is looking for one person to stand for Him and to step out and do what He has called him/her to do.  With God on my side, what can man do to me?  He is the majority!

 My heart also sings to this tune:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

 The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, is he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. . ."  (Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic") 

  After years of shying away from the arena all too often, I am daring to step in and strive valiantly.  Will you join me?

 What are you being challenged to do differently?

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Run & Enjoy

One of my newest Brooks running shoes

My stomach churned and burned.  I could feel my breathing become shallower and faster.  The whistle blew and off I lurched.  I sprinted to each line on the gym floor and back to the beginning point all the while complaining internally.  I flopped to the floor at the end of the circuit, gasping for air and despising that part of practice…

“Yes, you can run the hurdles,” our track coach replied to my dream request.  She continued, “as long as you also run the mile relay.”  My heart sunk, but I agreed.  I would run a race I hated for the sake of one I loved…

Going Out on a Limb or O Christmas Tree