Speaking of forgiveness...

I cannot believe that it has been a month since I posted. I apologize profusely for this. I would like to offer an excuse, but it would be just that - an excuse.

The truth is that I have not been able to fit running OR forgiving into my schedule since I went back to work. I say that because the two are tied together more that I thought they were.

I did make some changes this past week though. I was originally working from 8-4, but I was not running in the morning or in the evening. I have always hated running in the morning and all I have been doing in the evening is making excuses for not running. So, this past week, I changed my work schedule to better accommodate my priorities. I now work from 7-12ish and then come home and run and then go back at 3 and work until 6. And it worked great. I ran everyday this past week and it made a HUGE difference.

Sadly, however, I didn't make the same effort to forgive. I think my perception was that once you fix the forgiveness problem - you know make the decision to forgive and all that, then you don't have to think about it again. Well, I was wrong. When I don't wake-up every morning and make the decision to forgive EVERYONE that irritates me in some way, I become incredibly vindictive and just mean. I don't always say things that would indicate that, but believe me, I sure think them. And now I deal with children and, more importantly, adults, I need to be a picture of Christ to every one I encounter.

This morning's sermon really impacted me - I began to think of how I could ImPACT people on a daily basis in every aspect. Not just the four giants as a church, but in every dealing with others that I have. How can I make the world a better place in every action I take?

So, tomorrow morning, I will start by repeating the following:
"Today, I will forgive others and try to impact everyone on my path in a positive way."

That's not much...

Roll with it, Baby!!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I have posted and it has been 10 days since I have run. I guess the time got away from me. I started working full-time again last week and I couldn't seem to figure out when to work out and we had somewhere to be every evening last week. But, I decided not to let working rule my life.....or I'm going to try anyway!!

I ran today when I got home from work. It was slow but I really enjoyed it. It was beautiful and cool and I could feel Fall right around the corner.

I don't know if I have ever admitted this to you, but, I have a tendency to be wound a little tight. I try to appear relaxed and flexible, but the reality is, I am not. I often don't know which is more stressful - not being relaxed and flexible, or trying to appear relaxed and flexible. So, when things happen that come out of the blue, I try really hard to handle it well, but it doesn't always happen.

This past weekend, we found out that we are going to just one keyboardist playing two keyboards each week on the worship team. This is being done because in January when the new campus opens, it would require us to play almost every weekend and some don't want to play that much. But, in the meantime, we have been cut to once a month through November, when we will then go back to two keyboardists for the Christmas season. But, it was so disappointing to find out that I wouldn't be playing again until November. You know, playing at North Point is one of the absolute joys of my life. Needless to say, I didn't take it well. Okay, I whined.

Then, during the second service on Sunday morning, I felt like God was telling me that maybe I didn't know what was coming and to "Just chill out". I try to chill out, I really do. I just think too much.

Today, I was running and a song came on the radio and the chorus was "Roll with it, baby!". You know the one. I think it was a message from God. You know why I think that? Because there is no way I would think that by myself. I think alot of things, but if I had thought that it would be "I think I should try to just roll with it more." Definitely not just "Roll with it, baby!!"

I am going to use this time by doing a couple of things. I have been working on some studies for women using Scripture and things that have helped me. At this point, they are pages and pages of just thoughts. I think I will try to get at least one into a Bible study format. I will be looking for a group of women to go through the first one with me, so if you are interested, let me know.

I am also going to work on my autobiography. I'd like to get the basics down on paper.

So my new mantra is "roll with it baby!!". Let's see how that works...