Take the glory

I am a runner. Did you know this? Ha. Something tells me the answer is yes, and that anyone reading this may even be rolling their eyes at that statement. Here we go again. More running talk. But if you're worried that this is a post about running, let me just go ahead and and reassure you that it's not.

I know that many people, maybe even the majority, love running about as much as they love doing laundry. My love runs a little deeper, though. (No pun intended.) When I'm in shape, there's nothing better than "being a runner," but right now I am struggling not to fade into becoming a former runner. For the past seven months or so, that's seemed like the more apt description. So I understand that it may sound strange to many of you to hear me say that, as I've been trying to run more consistently again, I've been asking God to teach me to run for Him--to run on His strength--instead of running for myself and on my own strength. If running is a part of my identity, then I want to make sure I recognize God--the source of my identity--as the author of that. I want to run "to feel His pleasure" as Eric Liddell said in Chariots of Fire.

The other day I had one of my first lessons, which, not surprisingly, is very applicable to every other area of life. It was one of those lessons that I've heard here and there in several different forms many times before but finally became a lightbulb moment of sorts to me.

As is often the case these days, I was about halfway through my run and willing myself to keep moving. I started praying, "Lord, give these legs strength and to You be all the glory. Not to me." To be perfectly honest, this prayer didn't seem to be having much effect, but I kept repeating it nonetheless. Isn't that the definition of insanity? But God can and does straighten out our insanity, and somewhere among all those repetitions, my prayer became simply "Take the glory." And that was the lightbulb moment. Once I stopped asking for more and simply recognized whatever portion I had and turned that over to God, THEN, at THAT moment, God granted me more strength. It was still a very slow run, but it was glorious. It was His.

And this was the larger lesson I took from that lightbulb moment: How can any of us ask for more if we don't recognize that all we have--even if it doesn't feel like much--has already been granted to us solely by the grace of God? There are so many people who don't even have the use of their legs. God has blessed me abundantly, in running and even more so in everyday life, so to You Lord, help me always to joyfully say...

Take the glory!

Amore in Italia

I don't want to write this post. It means our time in Italy is now really, truly over and just a memory. But what a wonderful memory. I honestly don't think our trip could have been any smoother or the weather any better. What a blessing. We packed light because we did so much traveling--just a day pack and a backpacking bag. That was definitely the way to go.

So here's our trip in a nutshell:

April 3: Arrive in Milan and catch the first train to Varenna on Lake Como (up by the Swiss border)

April 4-5: Vernazza in the Cinque Terre (five towns connected by hiking trails on the NW coast; takes about 4 hours to hike from the first to the last town)

The path connecting two of the towns was called Via dell'Amore (the Pathway of Love)

April 6: Catch a morning train to Pisa to see the sights there, then another train to Siena

Siena's city tower

April 7: Took a bus to Florence for the day

Justin regrets letting me take this picture

April 8-9: Rome/Vatican City

April 10-12: Left Rome the afternoon of the 10th and caught a train to Sulmona (about 100 miles east of Rome). Justin's aunt and uncle (Taffy and Phil) picked us up and took us to their home in Introdacqua, just a few miles away. Introdacqua is on the other side of the mountain from L'Aquila, where the earthquake hit--about 40 miles away. There were aftershocks there for a few days before we arrived, but no damage.

The house next door (what Taffy and Phil's looked like before renovations)

Sulmona is known for its coated candies and for its flowers made from these candies

April 13: Taffy and Phil drove us to Pescara (an hour away and on the coast), where we caught a train to Padova, which is just outside of Venice

Basilica of St. Anthony

April 14: Day trip to Venice

Rialto Bridge

Island of Burano near Venice

April 15: Took the train to Milan with a quick stop in Verona

Piazza Bra

Pretty park with Verona's colosseum in the background

April 16: A LONG day of travel back to the US (We flew in and out of Atlanta, where Justin's mom and dad live. Eddie stayed with Justin's dad and stepmom and lived like a king.

You can see why we wanted to pack light! Justin had been to Italy twice before, but since this was my first trip, we decided to see as much as we could in two weeks. What we saw ended up being a really great mix of gorgeous, sleepy little towns and the "biggies." It was all different, so don't ask me what my favorite was! I can tell you my favorite gelato place, but that's about it. And my two favorite meals. On Easter Sunday, Taffy and Phil took us to a nearby skiing town called Pescocostanza. We spontaneously decided to grab lunch there. There was no menu at the place we chose. The owner gave us a choice of three dishes, and we all chose ravioli. He said his wife was in the kitchen right then making the ravioli, the ricotta had been made from sheep's milk just that morning, and the wild mushrooms had also been picked fresh. It was a heavenly meal.

The most important lesson I learned: Never sit down on a curb, especially in Rome, without looking first. You might just find yourself picking off not one but two wads of gum and a cigarette butt from your pants.

But mostly, it was awesome.

Arrivederci

Okay, so this time I am well aware that it's been yet another month. I just haven't been inspired to write, I guess. Don't worry; you haven't missed much. ;-) But I just wanted to say "arrivederci" as Justin and I leave for our "honeymoon." Italy awaits!

Has it really been a month??

Thanks so much to those of you who wrote to share your insight (a month ago!). It's interesting how we can all get caught up in the same dry cycles, and I love knowing that none of us is alone in that...and that we can push each other to cycle right on out of our funks. How's that going for everyone else?

Well, February has still not brought me much editing work, but I have been busy. I ended up at the volunteer office on base looking into ways to volunteer, and then I just never left. Turns out the volunteer office actually utilizes volunteers! Who would have guessed? I come in two mornings a week, and so far I've done some oh-so-exciting refiling for the financial aid office and am currently helping edit/redesign a volunteer handbook the coordinator has put together. I also looked into helping to teach ESL and agreed to help out at a class that meets for two hours twice a week. I showed up and found out the class was actually an Adult Basic Education/GED class. Oh well. That works too. The people there are working independently in reading and math books, so I just help out whenever someone needs it. I have a lot of respect for the people taking that class. I think I would find it hard to swallow my pride and come learn basic math or how to read (or to read better) after getting along without it for so many years. I think I mentioned this before, but I've been wanting to find some way to serve for quite a while now, I've just had no idea where to start. I still don't know if I'm on the right track, but it's a start at least--something to try. I feel like it's all still kind of a grand experiment, though. And although I haven't felt any lightning bolts from God booming, "Lisa, this is what I have called you to do!" at the very least I feel confident that I am being a better servant now than I was while sitting on my couch doing nothing of consequence. And that's a good feeling.

One more update and then I'll be done. I've started working part time for a resume service, critiquing resumes for free. The job is purely based on commission, and while I've always been skeptical of such jobs, I'm confident this one is on the up and up and I had thought it would be a good use of my skills. However, so far I'm making almost no money. I've had more "Thanks but no thanks" responses lately, which is at least a step in the right direction, but still hardly any actual sales. We're lowering our prices this month, so I'm going to stick it out a while longer and see if things turn around, but the jury's still out on my opinion of this job. Basically, concerning volunteering work and "paid" work, I'm still in need of some discernment, and I'm hoping that will come with time.

Thanks for the support guys. Hope this finds you all cycling up rather than down. :-)

Quote for the Day

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

This quote is by G.K. Chesterton and was up on Without Wax's blog today. I've never heard it before but found it beautiful. Here's to recovering our appetite of infancy.

Identity

If you were to create your own name, what would it be?

Desert wanderings

Why is it that, generally speaking, when we humans have no big goals on our to-do list, we put off doing the few things we can do like cleaning up the house or going to the grocery store or whatever it may be? When I'm bored, I just can't seem to do a thing for myself, and then it becomes oh-so-easy to wallow. Know what I'm talkin' about?

Well, my tolerance for occupying myself with meaningless activities (and for wallowing) has officially run out. I mean, really, there's only so much Solitaire a person can take, and I have a higher tolerance for repetitive activity than most. So these past two weeks I have been making an effort to be more intentional about how I spend my time. And, quite honestly, it has not been easy. I've been feeling aimless for too long, and it has become comfortable in its familiarity, even if it has not made me happy. It is SAFE.

Last night I went to a Bible study that focused on Exodus 16. I'm sure many of you know the story, but I'm just going to set up a little context here for the sake of my own story. God had delivered the Israelites from their lives as slaves in Egypt, and at this point they were a month into their wanderings in the desert. Already they were beginning to suggest that maybe they had been better off in Egypt as slaves. (I think the desert must have made them delusional.) So God responded to their grumbling by giving them a daily supply of manna. Each morning, they had only to go out and gather what they needed. The only catch was, they could not store up more than they needed for the day because what they didn't use in a day would rot (with the exception of the day before the Sabbath). Well, the Bible study compared the manna--the Israelites' daily bread--to God's Word--the daily bread we have today. It reiterated the importance of spending time with God every day and not spiritually starving ourselves. Because as much as we would like to, we cannot store up God's Word one day out of the week and expect it to sustain us any more than we could survive by eating only one day a week.

It really hit me last night that I am experiencing a time in the desert--literally, a time of wandering aimlessly. Yet I have been refusing to gather up what God so graciously gives me every day and have been waiting...for what? For something even more miraculous than daily grace? So I am trying to be faithful in the little things. After all, if I can't handle taking care of my house and my husband when I have nothing else to do, how can I expect to be entrusted with anything bigger? I don't think I can.

So, God willing, I will be sharing more with you in the next couple of weeks about new work and volunteer opportunities I'm hoping to pursue. I've started to ask about a few options. Now I'm just waiting to see how the chips fall, and I can go from there. And I can hardly wait.

What's the most meaningful work or volunteer project you've ever been privileged to be part of?

Greatness

Apparently, according to Malcolm Gladwell (author of Tipping Point, Blink, and now Outliers), it takes 10,000 hours before anyone can become great at anything. (Well, maybe not anything. I'm guessing something relatively simple like laundry or watching TV doesn't apply. Or does it? I do know a few people for which movie watching is an art form. But for now, let's confine this statistic to anything that requires a certain degree of specialization.) As someone who finds herself reevaluating her life and what she wants to contribute to the world--and as someone who has to put up a fight so as not to shut down in the face of failure--I find that figure more than a little intimidating.

Would you agree that greatness really takes that long to develop? I guess I did probably put more than 5000 hours into my college degree, and I definitely wouldn't argue that having a bachelors makes me "great."

I wonder how many hours it takes to become, let's say, better than average at something. To make into the 75 or 80 percentile range. I think I could work with that for a while before aiming for greatness. Now if only I could commit to what that "something" should be...

Is there a skill you're attempting to master? Do you think you've worked up to 10,000 hours yet?