My energy was low the other day due to not sleeping well. Why do our problems and concerns seem to magnify at night?

I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and began thinking about an issue involving our 11-year-old son Noah. It was nothing major, just some ongoing growing pains with our tweener. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to worry, feeding the issue and before long, it grew to Noah dropping out of school and making license tags behind bars with “mom” tattoo on his arm under a skull with crossbones.

I finally fell asleep and when I awoke in the morning, it all seemed frivolous but it had left me robbed of much needed sleep and an unproductive day.

Pete Wilson’s new book Empty Promises, shares how the ancient Hebrew mindset saw the beginning of the day starting at sunset. Even in the Creation Story in Genesis 1 illustrates this, “Evening came and then morning – that was the first day.”

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This past week I worked at a conference hosting a booth with many of our books. People from all walks of life visited our table and it was interesting to see the different responses, especially to two of our books that are political in nature. One in particular, The Presidents and Their Faith, stimulated much talk on the faith of our current president, some harsh and some loving.

One gentleman approached the table and snidely said, “Well, well, the faith of the presidents. I want to know what you have to say about our present one.”

He picked up the book and began scanning the last chapter. His conservative dress, cropped hair and the sarcastic tone in his voice quickly told me what he believed.

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It’s been a rough week, health-wise, in the Russell household. Anastasia’s been dealing with the coughing funk the past two weeks and I finally had to take her in (to the doctor, not the house, even though at times I was tempted to leave her outside at night, but I fear I’m sharing too much right now) last Thursday.

Noah’s cough started up this past week and today it was his turn to head to the doctor. When I signed him in at the doctor’s office, I swear the nurse looked at me funny, as if I were using my kids to get drugs or something.

Maybe I’m just being sensitive. Either way, I’m sick of the sickness and long for life to be back to normal.

However, I’ve noticed something different in Noah today…he’s talking with me more and even cuddling! He’ll turn eleven next week and each day he seems to pull more away from me and more towards his friends and his room.

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Pain is something I work hard to avoid. It hurts and seem only a negative. A pain in my legs after exercise means an injury. A scratchy throat is the beginning of an illness. A broken heart represents losing at love.

Even though pain is not fun, there’s positive that can come out of it. The pain in my leg is my body adjusting to a new workout that’s making me stronger. The scratchy throat is due to long phone conversation with my loving mother. And the broken heart was God’s separating me from a bad choice until the right one came along.

My survival instinct many times causes me to flee pain.

Growing up adults repeatedly shared the famous quote, “When the going get tough, the tough get going.” However, the only “get going” I wanted to do was away from the pain.

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Mark’s turning 40 next month. Yep, my young hubby is growing up. For years he’s had the dream of doing a triathlon. So as a way to celebrate his new decade he decided he would participate in Boise’s 70.3 Ironman.

 

I was thrilled. I love triathlons – watching them, that is - but I’ve never considered doing one myself. I have this issue with open water swimming.  The idea of not seeing what is lurking below me kind of freaks me out.

Growing up in the south, I heard urban legends of water skiers landing in beds of water moccasins who aggressively attacked the unsuspecting skier. I know – horrible. What if I swam through one of those? Oh and let’s not forget Jaws! No need to say more on swimming in the ocean.

However, Mark wanted me to train and do a triathlon. I was touched he wanted me to share in his dream with him but still unsure. He has a way of wearing me down, uh, I mean convincing me to do things I otherwise thought were impossible and I finally agreed.

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Our 9-year-old daughter, Anastasia, is quickly outgrowing her bike. She likes to participate in the kid triathlons around town and is on the Youth Tri-team at the YMCA. Last fall, in the season’s last event, I watched her riding down the street, pedaling as hard as she could only to have a kid on a larger bike shoot past her. Not only was the bike bigger but it was a road bike. Needless to say, she noticed.

She decided then that she wanted to save up for her own road bike, sensing that she was losing most of her time on the bike (I know, she’s only 9 and already this competitive. Lord help me!).

If you’ve ever priced a road bike before, it doesn’t take long to see that they are crazily expensive – even the kid’s bikes (that they outgrow). Luckily cold weather was approaching so I told her if she really wanted one then to begin saving and we’d look for a used one the next spring. I gave her the amount we’d pay to help out with it if she could cover the rest. However, internally I figured she’d lose interest and settle for a larger, much cheaper, mountain bike.

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A friend sent me an article the other day about what the author called "dirty moms". I posted it on my Facebook page, asking for opinions and received a variety of responses in all forms of my inboxes.

Based on what I read - we love beauty and beautiful things but resent feeling obligated to obtain it. Many acknowledged that inner beauty is what is important but still feel sucked in to comparing their outer beauty to what we see in magazines and on the screen. A few shared how this is amplified by physical disabilities, illness and lack of money. Another reminded me that when we criticize our appearance, we’re criticizing the work of God.

I believe God is aware of struggles. Perhaps Jesus experienced this to some point when He lived on earth in human form. Who knows?

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In my last blog I shared some inspiration I’d received from Kristin Armstrong’s book, Mile Markers, and as promised, I’d like to share with you another nugget of truth I learned from her. It has to do with our roles and our purpose.

Kristin shared how women often tell her they feel called to be a wife and mother to which she replied, “Of course you are! You have a ring finger and uterus, but what is your purpose?”

At first her reply seemed a bit crass (I feel part of my calling is to be a wife and mother) but it got me thinking. I’ve never prayed about or tried to define my purpose before. I have many roles that I fulfill but why did God put me on this earth? Is there an underlining purpose in them all?

A role is position where we have a responsibility or duty but our purpose is the reason why God created us. It is why we exist.

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I’m reading the book, Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reason Why Women Run by Kristin Armstrong, ex-wife of Lance Armstrong. I cringe writing that because this is not how she should be known. She’s an avid runner, talented writer, and a dedicated mother devoted to her faith. It’s not solely a book about running as it is about family, friends, fears, faith, goals, etc. and how running has helped her face them all. It’s filled with stories taken from her entries from her blog on Runner’s World http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com.

The whole book has been an inspiration but a couple of her insights have really challenged me and I want to share this with you in my next couple of blogs.

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