Slow & Steady

As promised, I am making up for last week’s #WorkItWednesday.

Honestly, the last few weeks/month have been so busy…I’m either at work, at school, or at my practicum. I feel like I barely have time for the homework and social life that I also need to do to graduate and keep my sanity.

In the midst of all that, forget the gym. After my flu, I got out of the habit of gym time & have only been to the gym twice and worked out at home twice. I also found my way to a couple of mini hikes.

Lucky for me, my job keeps me pretty active, and I have found ways to add extra steps to my days on school days or when I work shorter shifts.

I have noticed that for the past 3 weeks, my weight has been steady – no loss, no gain.

But, my clothes are fitting looser. I feel like I have more stamina. So, i know I’m on the right path.

And, that’s exactly it. It’s all a part of the journey.

Of course, I can’t wait until the end result, when I can show before & after photos. When people say, “Dang, you look amazing!” When I reach my goal of being able to climb the 300+step stair case at the lighthouse without stopping. All of these are going to feel amazing.

But, along the way, I’m trying to enjoy the small progress. The success of a day of healthier eating (or at least, a day of a few less calories 🙂 ). The success of being able to buy a size smaller pant. The success of being able to go farther/faster/longer than I could before.

Because the end results: the showing off, the long treks, the 5ks (and maybe 10ks) – these will all be built on the foundation of these smaller successes.

And, just like the tortoise won the race with the hare, I’m taking this slow and steady.

---

Final thought:

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”
–Philippians 3:13-14

Advertisement

Rainy Pinterest Sundays

Here I sit this rainy Sunday night watching a sappy Hallmark double feature while looking at the barrage of pictures on Pinterest (Paleo food, DIY projects, & pretty clothes, anyone?).

Some of the pictures I find myself drawn to tonight are of the wedding & baby announcement type.

Perhaps it’s because I know several couples recently engaged, pregnant, or newly parentified.

Yet, here I am…Working my way through grad school…living at my parents’ home.

I was recently talking to a friend about this and said, “Yeah, and all I’m doing is going to grad school.”

“All you’re doing…?” she responded.

Yeah, I realized at the moment she and I are focusing on education, career, helping others.

And, some days it’s great. While others, it makes me think, “What am I doing with my life?” Haha.

And, here I am, single…it’s a chronic situation in my life, really…

But, I’m good at it…I honestly don’t know how to do the whole relationship thing…I mean, I’ve done it once before, and I think I was ok at it. But, I’m good at being single. Coming & going as I please. Doing what I want with my time & money. Picking the movies and tv shows I watch (and having sole control of the remote).

Basically, I’m good at being selfish.

So, when it’s time to actually begin a relationship again, I’ll have to learn to be a little more selfless. I guess I will also be working on that as I wait.

Because it’s the waiting that prepares us…

So do rainy Pinterest Sundays 😉

Waiting…

I am so tired right now, I just want to sleep…I even considered skipping writing today, but now, I’m in the habit. I can’t sleep without putting thoughts to page for the world to see – especially in the midst of this 31 Day challenge writing about being Beloved – Agapetos.

Since it’s Tuesday, I am going to use the prompt from Tuesday @ 10 over at Finding the Grace Within and tie it into being Beloved.

It’s fitting:

Patience: something I lack so often.

I want to know God’s plan for me right now!

I want to have that plan happen right now!

I want to be successful (whatever that means) right now!

I want to have all the information ever in the history of the world… and, well, you get it.

But, being the Beloved isn’t just flowers and candy. It’s not just the easy times when we know for sure we are loved & feel that love & show that love to others.

It’s also the waiting…

Waiting for an answer to prayer (and then accepting the answer, whether it’s yes, no, or, more waiting…)

Waiting for God’s timing in an answered prayer.

Waiting for others to step in and do their part.

Waiting…

It’s like Hannah, one of my favorite women in the Bible. She so longed for a child. Her husband loved her deeply, and she knew God loved her, but she had an ache, a desire. And God saw that. Each year she and her husband trekked to worship, and she wailed & pleaded for a child. And, then, she did what many of us would have thought was crazy: she promised to release him back to God… If only He would give her a child, she would let that child go into the service of God.

God used that time to bring Hannah closer to Himself, and He used the child she wasn’t supposed to be able to have.

That child was Samuel, and He did great things for God. He played a great role in the tales of the Old Testament, and the only reason he was there was because Hannah saw the hope & the beauty in the waiting. And, she promised the gift she patiently waited for to God.

(1 Samuel 1-3)

I’m not as good at the waiting as Hannah was. I lose heart along the way, and give up for a while. I only offer up half-hearted prayers sometimes, because I sometimes lose faith that maybe God will grant the desire.

 

But, even in the waiting, we can be certain that He is with us. He is in the tension, in the questions, and in the doubts as much as he is in the peace, in the answers, and in the confidence.

So, now, it’s just about learning to live at peace in the waiting… Trusting that no matter what, He is always with us.

“I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking…I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
– 1 Samuel 15-16

---

 

(And, this ties in to what I am going to write about tomorrow: one of my favorite women in the Bible, who spent so much time waiting that she almost missed the beauty God sent in the waiting.)