Walking

I've been trying to get back into my walking routine. So far, it's been a successful week. I've been walking every morning again.I leave right when Baker gets on the bus and get back in time to get the other 3 kids ready for school. It's nice to get the exercise done early and out of the way. It makes for a better day.

Twice this week, Cara has walked with me. She's been doing a great job getting up and hanging in there with me. Today both Brennan and Cara walked with me. I felt a bit like the Pide Piper (is that how you spell "pide" or am I totally wrong....) with all my little chicks following along, but it was great to have that time with my twins. The mornings have been so beautiful and cool lately. It's very energizing to get out.

Walking this morning reminded me of the week that the kids and I walked to vacation Bible school in the mornings -- about a 2 mile walk. The walks made for good summer memories and turned into a bit of a lesson on conservation -- not that two miles is a huge gas sucker -- more just the principle.

At any rate, on one of our morning walks to VBS, Brennan decided to jog about a 1/4 of a mile. When we finally caught up with him. He asked me if I knew how he could keep up the jogging pace and make it to the end. I asked him how he did it. Here's the gist of what he said that morning: "When I'm running, I don't look ahead at how far I have to go. Instead, I keep my eyes focused on where I am and think about how far I've already come." Whew! That one blew me away. I was recounting that story the other day to a friend, and she asked if I had written it down. My answer was "no;" although it is a tag line at the end of my email signature.  Consider it written down now.

Children are certainly a gift from God. You never know what kind of profound words are going to come out of their mouths -- I prefer the inspiring ones -- they are usually so applicable and so innocently stated. God asks the little children to come unto Him, and He asks us to have faith like a child. What a simple request? What a hard reality to fulfill. Imagine living each day focused on the "now" and abiding in the confidence that God is in control of each second, minute, hour, day and year. We aren't asked to live any where other than in the present. God is here in the present with us. When I'm too focused on the "what ifs" or the concerns of the future, I'm not in the present with God. It's in the present where we find our greatest comfort and source of peace -- Our present should be in His presence.