Lessons in my running shoes

For the past six weeks I have enjoyed running about every other day, gradually lengthening my times and distance. Yesterday I decided to just keep going and see where it would take me. Well, time ran out before my energy did and I ran three and a half miles. Those thirty minutes gave me lots of time to think and pray.

My mind mulled over some applications from my run that applied to homeschooling as well, and even parenting in general.

Getting started is sometimes the hard part . . . The first mile to mile and a half I thought for sure I wouldn't even make it to the two mile mark. However, as I pushed through it I settled into a rhythm that worked for me and after a little while longer I felt like I could run forever. The first week or two of the homeschool year sometimes plays out that way as well. So many disruptions and catastrophes and failures it seems we will hardly make it through September, let alone the whole school year. And yet, as we push on, seek encouragement, reset priorities, and find our family's rhythm we can settle in. We will still face hills and headwinds and rocks in our shoes, but we know we can keep going and even succeed.

Sometimes goals need reevaluating . . . I had to stop thinking about the two miles that I had yet to finish and focus on just getting around the next bend, up this particular hill, to the next tree. Although homeschooling requires the long haul, we sometimes need to focus on the moment and seek God's strength for right then and keep our goals achievable.

We may need to adjust our pace . . . When I push too hard it makes it harder to keep going. Just as I needed to find my rhythm, and continue to readjust based on how I felt, in homeschooling we sometimes need to slow down for a bit. We don't quit, don't just stop, but take our time through the tough spots.

Don't quit! We never know just how much we can accomplish until we try without giving up. The success of a year well run brings joy to ourselves and glory to our Heavenly Father. We often sell ourselves short because we run in our own strength with our human vision.

Hebrews 12:1,2 sums this all up, and will remain in my focus this week and in the year ahead. This encouragement comes after listing the great men and women of faith throughout history (Hebrews 11).

We don't run alone.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God.

~Hebrews 12:1,2~