Week 34 -- Preparations for the Big Race

Almost missed it, but here we are:

We are really getting towards the end!  I can hardly believe it.  But this week was a good one.  All of my fears of childbirth and labor have somewhat subsided and turned more to awe and amazement and excitement.  A good friend of mine who recently became a Mom herself, recommended I watch the documentary The Business of Being Born.  I'm not here to get into arguments, I just found it to be really enlightening and it helped put a lot of things into perspective for me.  But more than anything, it made the whole process look beautiful.  Maybe I'm weird, but I'm kind of looking forward to going through it all now.

And yes that means that I'm going to go into this thing with a positive mindset and no drugs.  (Unless absolutely necessary)  We were actually made to do this whole thing, and I wanna experience it all.  I really would have thought you were a crazy person to suggest that before, but my opinions have definitely changed.  And actually I used to think the same thing about running.  And that's what I'm comparing all of this too.  When people would tell me that running a marathon was the hardest thing they had ever done, I thought why in the world would you want to do it then!?  I never made it to marathon level, but 13.1 was all I needed to know why they would do it.  I remember my first race and how nervous and anxious I was.  I wasn't very nice to the people around me and I just wanted to get the whole thing done.  But they all remained patient with me.  And cheered me on along the way.  And with every glimpse of them throughout the race I knew I could do it.  Until I thought I couldn't anymore.  I wanted to quit.  I wanted to just walk away and say I gave it my best and be done.  But I buried those thoughts and kept going.  When I rounded the corner to the end, a surge of energy and emotions came over me.  I gave every last thing I had in me to finish that race.  And when I finally crossed the finish line, a joy I had never experienced before came over me.  I had done it!

I was hooked after that point.  Sometimes we need that kind pain to know what this life is really all about.  We experience it at different points in our lives and at different levels, but once you've gone through it, perspectives change and a certain knowledge of who God is and your place in this world become a little more real.  It takes you beyond just a normal feeling.  And we should fight with all that we have to remember those moments.  Remember to know how to get through it the next time. Remember when discontentment begins to creep into our lives.  Remember when we begin to wander.  To remember that we were made for so much more.  To experience so much more.  To know that there is someone so much bigger than us that should be at the center of it all.  And to just rest in Him.

 After all, He knows us best.  Right down to every hair on our head.  And though sometimes we don't know how much we can handle and bare...if we learn to see the beauty in what He has for each of us, it will make the whole experience that much more sweeter.  Even through the pain.