Running vs. LIFE

Well, as I ventured out on a morning run by myself I was enlightened by certain parallels between my running experiences and my life.

Flat and Straight = Sometimes a run seems simple. It's flat and you can see far enough ahead that you know exactly where you are going. Sometimes you can predict exactly how long it will take to get to the end of the straightaway. I find similarities between this type of run and my "coasting" times of life. There is minimal day-to-day type stresses (aches/pains) and things kind of keep rolling on. I begin to feel confident in my abilities and position in life.

Curves = Now curvy paths may be uphill, downhill, or flat. This type of running can be very emotional. You never quite know where you are going, exactly. You can't see far ahead in the path. You may hit a short downhill and feel respite, "This is going to be OK." Then you turn a corner and there is a daunting hill. I think that most of real living is curves. We rarely are able to see our path for any measurable distance before us. Each day is filled with surprises that throw a wrench into our well laid plans or bathe us in God's mercy.

Downhill = For all intents and purposes you would think the downhill would be a blessing to the runner. You are partly right. A short downhill can give you a chance to catch your breath, work a little less, and let your feet just fall one in front of the other. There is relief in a downhill run, initially. If a downhill run is too long it can be murder on your body. I learned many years ago that hiking up a hill is much easier on the body than coming back down. If our downhills in life are too long, each step can become excruciating and jarring causing you to wish you could just sit down and stay there forever.


Uphill = Ugh! The most overwhelming to me as a runner. My neighborhood has many hills. The worst hills are brutal because you can almost see the end from the beginning. When I start that first step up a hill I know I have a long way to go. It is too overwhelming. I have found the only way to get up our hills is to focus on one footfall at a time. If I keep my eyes up looking at the end of the hill I convince myself I will never get there. This hill will never end. I will never get relief. However, if I draw in and focus on putting one foot in front of the other, eventually I find myself at the top. At this point, I look back at the hill and thank the Lord for getting me through it. I hate hills, but they do show us how strong we really can be if we are "running with Jesus".

Humidity = Finally, since I am a Minnesotan I must address the humidity factor. Humidity can make the simplest task difficult or seem impossible. Even those blessed flat/straight areas become difficult because the air is so thick you have to slice it and chew it before you can inhale. Bodies need oxygen to function. So, when you find yourself running or living with a dew point of 81, slow down - WALK. Be gentle with yourself, hydrate with water, living water to keep yourself from passing out along the path.

God promises us he will never leave us. I love Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait (lean) upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they will mount up with wings as eagles. They shall RUN and NOT be WEARY, they shall WALK and NOT FAINT." You will notice that I refer to life as a run/walk not a race. We are not competing with anyone. We are simply trying to get through one day after another with the Lord by our side. Some days we will run and feel like champions. Some days we will walk and feel lucky to have made it a couple of feet. But, every day we will get up and move because we love our Father in Heaven, we know we are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ and we want to be more like Him.

Where have I been?

Nowhere, really. I have found that spring is a neck-breaking catapult into summer. Just when I get hopeful about spring coming around the bend we are in the downhill slide to summer. I can't seem to get a hold of anything as time speeds up with choir tour, end of the year field trips, school programs, annual work trip with D, Memorial Day...

In March I envision myself crawling into a comfortable hammock-type apparatus. I know that I can survive the rest of the cruel Minnesota winter and I look fondly to the horizon of a far off summer. "There is still time" I tell myself. I enjoy the schedule of school, lessons, rehearsals, and church activities. Routine wraps me in a warm, predictable embrace all school year long. I snuggle into my proverbial hammock feeling as if predictability will be my companion for a good-long time.

Little do I know that my snuggly hammock is really a fully cocked catapult ready to let loose. And so it does. It lets loose and sends me hurtling through time until I land in a gelatinous puddle of fatigue and bewilderment in late June. I am not saying that March to June are unpleasant days; quite the contrary, I love the blossom of spring and the anticipation of warm days, late nights, and sleeping in. Oh I love to sleep! But my June puddling self can't seem to be present in any of the moments I have "flown" over. Not sure how to slow all that down and really suck the marrow from each day.

My oldest daughter B is well on her way to young womanhood and all the blessings that come with that transition. Her life seems to swirl around my head and I try to keep smiling as I know her time with me is fleeting. I love that child. She is the product of prayer, fasting, and faith. A joy to me she has always been. Even in times of struggle, my interactions with her convince me that I am truly alive and a mother. Is it possible to both dread and eagerly anticipate the future? I am so excited to know her as she journeys into adulthood, but my heart will always ache for the days of snuggles, milk mustaches, and story books together.

My middle child M is an amazement. She colors my world vivid. If not for her, my life would be black and white and often without a soundtrack. Her perspective has opened up new experiences for me and my appreciation of all creation. What a blessing she has been to all of us with her tender heart and sensibility. What will she be and more importantly, what will she wear?

My boy C is my little man. Muscle from head to toe and a heart of gooey caramel. He smothers me with kisses and wants to help and take care of all "his girls". He has an old spirit that seems to communicate easily with heaven. I often sneak up to listen at his door as he talks with God and tells him all of his thoughts. Tender and simple, he thanks God for making his life possible, for frogs and beautiful rocks. He asks that no one will ever be hurt. No one will ever have their house burn down or get sick from carbon monoxide poisoning. (latest obsession) Help us to love each other and for everyone to know God better.

So, where have I been? Right here. Not present in the blogosphere, maybe not even present enough in my every day, but still right here - hurtling through time trying to grab any little bit of joy as it flies by.

GRRRRRRRRR!

I have been sick for a week. Life has been busy and none of us have really been "on our game". Tonight was regroup time. Why hasn't the spirit been as abundant in our lives? Why has there been more contention at home? What can we do to increase the peace and joy in our lives? Well, we decided as a family that we are going to recommit to kinder words, softer voices, more thoughtful communication.

Every day we are given an infinite number of opportunities to really mess things up. With each breath we can offend, hurt, misstep, overstep, step in it, so many steps backward. Mercifully, God has also provided so many ways to repent and be healed. We can recommit, confess, renew and commune. We can bear witness of Him, testify of Him, fast to be like Him, take His word in us, bear His name, serve Him, pray to Him, and know Him more fully.

I praise the Holy One who saved me and my family from the pitfalls of our existence and gave us a way out of ANY place we find ourselves. I accept Christ's atonement as THE WAY, the way I choose to follow and I will live my life to shine God love on everyone I meet. I pray that I will be of use to the Master, especially in my little family.

I am putting my foot down on THE ROCK and saying to all who oppose Him to get out of THE WAY. I am sure of my foundation and I will build my mansion despite the storms that persist because I know that I have a COVERING of protection and mercy. My fear is swallowed up in MY CONQUERER and my life is a song composed by THE VIRTUOSO.

I am waxing. Not actually "waxing", but rambling on. This whole thing started with a return to kindness in our home. So we are memorizing Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Here is to more turning away and a lot less stirring!

Word for today

M proposed our scripture of the week at family home evening tonight. She said she had the verse that we needed and it was also one of Grandma's favorites as well. She proposed:

John 15:7
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Any questions? Let me know when the miracles happen in your life, because they are comin'. Our Father is so good to us, let us praise Him before the blessing because it is WAY more fun than worryin'.

Love ya'll

Kalahari 2011

We have been so blessed to have the opportunity to meet, as a Brey family, at the Wisconsin Dells for 5 years. Our first two years we stayed at Treasure Island, it is now some Greek or Roman name. The last three years we have stayed at the Kalahari Resort. This year we stayed in the Kondos. They were fabulous. We had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, pool table, and home theater with 6 recliners. It was pretty much perfect! Here are a few pictures...


Each time we get together we have some sort of family night. We play games (Do you love your neighbor? is a favorite), share testimonies, sing songs, and share talents. This year we were blessed to have a Skype visit with our Mitchell at BYU. It was so wonderful to be together and feel of the love and support that our family offers one another.

"Talents" shared: H, E, and C interpretive dance to Voice Male's Once There Was a Snowman; Josh juggled with glow in the dark balls; C wrestled me to the floor; Mindy shared poetry; Spencer and his amazing tongue!

H brought music for a sing along, including her own pre-recorded accompaniment. We sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", a song from EFY, In Christ Alone. Also, on a musical note there were a few moments when we had to break out with praise and worship just to get the blood flowing. God is good and it is a blast to lift Him up in song.

We also shared testimony and scriptures that have been written on our hearts. Later, in the pool we girls had a minute to discuss more scriptures we are memorizing. It is a miracle for all of us to be memorizing God's word together. We are really tapping in to the Spirit in a new way. Hallelujah! I feel so blessed to have a family that began with two people committed enough to work things out on a day to day basis.

As we were walking to the waterpark we saw this little sign, "A Kalahari Moment". We had to take a picture.

I just can't believe that we have been able to figure out ways for all of us to be together. When we first start trying to figure it out it can seem difficult, expensive, and overwhelming, but when we all are together it is magical. There is no other way to describe it...wait, yes there is - ETERNAL. After the festivities are over and everyone is settled back into their day to day lives I think back on the memories of our time and seems like a perfect dream. I guess that is what we have to look forward to in heaven - every day is a perfect dream. Won't that be a blast!

High on the MOST HIGH!

I have had a couple days in a row where I have had time to worship in the morning before I leave the house. I love my scripture memorization, my new marking scripture system, and my music. I am flying high and with the sunny skies there is literally NOTHING that could get me down. We chose a new scripture for our family this week. We will be working on

Psalms 118:24
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

This scripture was one of Grandpa Omer's favorite scriptures. He quoted it often and every card we got from him had this passage. He truly was a man of God and looked for God's hand in all things. Dave was explaining all of this to us and he shared with us a song he sang as a child to learn this scripture. My man of God, Dave, taught the song to his family and bore testimony of this passage. How can I NOT count myself richly blessed.

My personal scripture to memorize this week is

D&C 84:88
I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

Wherever you are in your life make sure to look around every day. You will see the hand of God and angels bearing you up. Settle in for the ride and count your blessings, there are always some laying around. Look out world, this woman is on fire for God and I am about to leave my house!

Gorgeous Day!

Here in Minnesota we have been held in the icy grip of winter for weeks. Last week we had three days in a row where the kids were unable to be outside due to frostbite warnings. Our current warm up began on Friday and has continued through the weekend. We have little streams running down roads in search of buried storm drains, cleared sidewalks, and our parking lots are slowly gaining more spots.

When I first moved here from Utah I was thrilled to see that there were occasional bright and sunny days during our frigid winters. It didn't take me long to realize that sun and winter in Minnesota usually mean that your nose freezes shut if you inhale through it. Not so today! We had sun, melting snow, very little wind, and we had a great view of our nesting eagle pair on the way to church. We are lucky enough to drive along the Zumbro river on our way to church each week and we have a nesting pair close enough to the road that we can see them feeding their eaglets. I would love to tell you that this picture is "our" nesting pair and that I took it with my camera, but I cannot tell a lie.
I don't believe that any one can appreciate a day like today unless you have lived in winter like we do. Everything seems lighter, all things seem possible, and Spring seems just around the corner. I truly relish days like these because I know that a gray day will come again soon, Spring is definitely NOT around the corner (this is MN after all), but ALL things ARE possible no matter what the weather is because of Jesus Christ and that makes me smile EVERY day. Have a great day wherever you are and live it to the fullest. "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be GLAD in it".

5:00 a.m.?!

I think you all know me well enough to realize that I don't get up at 5:00 a.m. for anything except a flight to somewhere fabulous. Not so today! The Lord woke me at 5:00 a.m. and I surrendered to Him about 8 minutes later.

Dave leaves by 6:15 and he has been waking me each morning. I usually lay in my bed with one eye open, check my email, daily news, facebook, etc. It takes me a good hour to get up on most days. I have really been struggling to get up and see my Bean leave for school. She is up by 6:00 and leaves at 6:47. I have managed to get up, hug her, pray over her, and wish her well just before she leaves on most days. Actually, I need to do that now...I'm back.

I have been praying to have an easier time to get up and the Lord has been helping me. I actually have had alert times around 6:00 a.m. on most days, but I usually ignore them and go back to sleep. So why do I ask for help if I really don't want it? I will have to ruminate on that for a while...asking for something righteous (early study, family, exercise) and not REALLY wanting it. Sleep is a stronghold for me I guess. I need to have God explain this all to me.

Anyway, I did get up today and went right to get my scriptures, that's how awake I was. Miraculous. I did a little highlighting and realized I need to redo some of my indexing. Here are the topics I am working with right now. I have really just started on this aspect of my studies. I have about 20 scriptures marked, my scriptures are still a bit too pristine.

1 Agency/Choose/Will

2 Apostasy/Pride/Apathy

3 Atonement/Repentance

4 Born Again/ New/Baptism

5 Character of God/Names

6 Doubt/Fear

7 Faith/Courage/Action

8 Humility

9 Joy/Cheer/Happiness

10 Love/Charity/Service

11

12 Mercy/Grace/Rescue

13 Miracles

14 Peace/Comfort/Hope

15 Praise/Gratitude

16 Prayer/Cry Out to God

17

18 Sacrament/Sabbath

19 Revelation/His Word to Me

20 Rock/Foundation

21 Suffering/Adversity/Trial

22

23 Speak/Tongue/Mouth

24

25 Talents/Gifts of Spirit

26 Teaching/Testimony

27 Temples/Covenants

28 Trusting God/Patience

I have loved memorizing scripture. The selection I am working on now is pretty difficult for me, but I will persevere. Our family scripture goal has changed for this year and so far we are seeing great blessings. Our previous goals have consisted of trying to read a chapter a day or something similar. We have had mixed success, but little understanding of the word was found in our children. As I prayed about making the scriptures "live" in me I was led to memorization. Why not use the same process for my family? As a family, we have begun memorizing a scripture a week. Once we choose a scripture, we write it on our bathroom mirrors and we discuss it all week. It has given us opportunity to dig into the meatier scriptures and write God's word on our hearts. I also discuss with the family other scriptures I am studying or memorizing. It's just been a short time, but I feel very blessed and guided.
It is almost 7:00 p.m. and I have survived the whole day. I am amazed. My day has been blessed and I attribute it to our scripture study. In my home, I have found greater peace and my children are being drawn to know God better. It is my greatest hope to think that my children will learn to love God and seek Him each and every day.