Life has been pretty great since my last post. I had a long run on Sunday that I was hoping to do outside, but given a really cold/gloomy day and a family function around dinner time, I decided to do it on the treadmill while the kiddos were taking their afternoon nap. I ran for a full 2 hours and 28 minutes at a 13:30 mile/hour pace. For most runners, that pace isn't anything to be excited about, but for this girl, it was an amazing accomplishment. I am about a month out from my first half marathon and feeling confident that I'll be able to run the entire thing if I keep my pace consistent and slow. Slow and steady
Thursday was BEAUTIFUL. I went for a 3 mile run around a nearby lake. I took Lena with me and she did pretty well. It is really nice to have a 4-legged running partner :-) I was feeling pretty good and pushed myself a bit more than I normally would have. When I was at about mile 2 or so, I passed by a man walking the opposite direction that I saw at the beginning of my run on the other side of the lake. He saw me, got a big smile on his face and said, "Wow, you're still going!" I gave him a big smile back and said, "gotta keep going." Seriously, if God wasn't constantly giving me the courage and strength to do this, I would have quit long ago. This isn't something that people my size do, but I'm not going to let that stop me. It was the fastest I've ever made it around the lake, so I was pretty excited about that.
I took Friday off of work because I headed to the Devoted Hearts Conference in Rochester with three friends. Jen Hatmaker and Kelly Minter were the two speakers and Laura Story lead worship. It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.. Honestly, it was a blessing to be able to spend the past two days soaking in some amazing Bible teaching from incredible speakers alongside three ladies that I'm super thankful to have in my life.
I'm still processing much of what was said because the topic was one that has been weighing heavily on my heart lately. The motto of the conference was "Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly", from Micah 6:8, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, walk humbly with your God?"
I'm sure I'll have a couple of posts about the things I learned and what it means for me (lets just say I was pretty much straight up crying like a baby in a "the Holy Spirit is working something out in my heart" kind of way during Jen's closing prayer), but tonight I wanted to focus specifically on something Jen Hatmaker talked about on Friday night.
She picked Luke 10:38-42 as her focus for the night, the story of Mary and Martha
"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."
I've always heard this taught about how we shouldn't be Martha and miss the important things in life by focusing on the silly details. Never have I heard it taught the way Jen taught it last night, nor have I ever learned so much about the Jewish education system and training for a Rabbi. It was fascinating. Apparently, only a very small, select group of boys were ever given the privilege and honor of training to become a rabbi. Their education/training was basically for them to become disciples of a rabbi. This literally meant that they followed right behind their rabbi and imitated EVERYTHING he did. Women were never given this honor, so when Jesus came to Martha and Mary, Mary chose discipleship. She recognized the honor that Jesus gave to her by allowing her the opportunity to learn from him.
Jen asked the question - Are we receiving the honor that discipleship is?
Let that one sink in for a bit.
I know that I am not even coming close to receiving that honor, but God is working in me to fully know and recognize what an honor it is.
When Jen talked about the disciples following the Rabbi, I got this picture in my head of my three kiddos following right behind me. They are always one step behind me. If I sit down, they sit down. If I go in the bathroom, they go in the bathroom. They are watching everything I do and learning from it. I am their teacher.
Then it hit me. If I want them to know, love and imitate Jesus, then they need to see me doing all of those things every step of the way. I need to be following right behind Jesus while they follow me.
Sidebar: The picture in my head pretty much looks like the Abbey Road CD cover only Jesus is John, I'm Ringo and my kiddos are Paul and George...only there are three of them, but you get the point.
I'm at a phase in my life where it is very difficult to find time outside of work and raising these kiddos. I really struggle with that because there are so many people/causes that I want to be helping. Seeing this image in my head helped me understand the importance of teaching my kiddos how important it is to follow Jesus and made me feel peace with where I'm at today.
I want them to know who my teacher is. As their mother, my main role in their life is to ensure that once they stop following me, they start following Him. Jen summed it up so nicely in these two phrases, "there is nowhere better for us to be than directly behind Jesus" and "follow at all costs, imitate at every turn, love like he did".
Who (or what) are you following?
Stay tuned for more on this topic, I'm just getting started. There is so much going on in my heart and head right now...need to process more.
I'll leave you with an awesome picture of the best sister in law a girl could ask for and the one and only Jen Hatmaker.
I love you! Nuff said.
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