Saturdays...

I'm trying out several types of writing for a class I am taking... so I decided to use a few here. 

This morning I woke up to giggles and loud whispers: "shhh!", "Moooommm I can't find my shirt." I am staying with some friends and they have three kiddos. The youngest can't quite talk yet and her cheerful, "dah dah dat" joined in the happy murmurs of a great Saturday morning.

After stretching I grabbed some clothes and headed toward the bathroom, only to be stopped in the doorway of my room by little Faith, the 1yr old. She had a book in her hand and a smile on her face, how could I resist? So I sat on the floor and she promptly plopped into my lap. "Dat! heh, dah, ahh" She said, along with other gibberish, that had I been able to interpret would have probably told me a wonderful story. After about four pages she toddled off to find another adventure and I quickly go ready for the day, grabbed my keys, and with a cheery, "see you later!" headed off on my own adventure. 

There was a touch of mist in the air, but the sun was still shining, so I pulled back the sun roof cover, plugged in my iPod and settled in for a nice drive to meet up with some friends for brunch. Then, silence... hmm, that wasn't supposed to happen. I was supposed to be hearing Michael singing "Save the Last Dance", or "I Just haven't met You Yet", instead just the buzz of my adapter greeted my ears. My iPod was completely dead, and all I would have to accompany me was the very special voice coming from my Garmin. My one consolation was that it should be a short ride and I would be sipping a latte and chatting with my friends soon. 

Of course it didn't work out quite that way, but several "re-calculating" and "turn left, then turn left again", also known as a U-turn, later I finally pulled up into the parking lot of Panera. I hurried inside to greet my friends and apologize for being late then filled them in on the details of my rather special morning, which made the whole thing a great funny story rather than bad day. 

Laughing with friends while enjoying a caramel latte and a delicious strawberry-cream scone, and catching up on life, topped my morning off, like a cherry on top of an ice cream Sunday. It made me realize that it is the little things that make life happy and special: sleeping in, giggling kiddos, sunshine, funny stories and great friends. The kind of things Saturdays are made of.

Laying aside that which is behind...

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." -the apostle Paul

I was talking to a friend this week and they pointed out that this verse says "forgetting what lies behind", it doesn't just say the hard things or the bad things. This made me think of several things:

• An athlete that focuses on a loss will not progress, but neither will one who can only think about or boast of a victory. They must lay aside both and concentrate on the coming race/game.
• We must learn from failures to correct our weaknesses but if we dwell on them we are likely to be defeated in our mind well before stepping back on the playing field.
• If you are looking at what is behind you, you are likely to run into something.
• In life if we focus on where we have been we will end up standing still or moving very slowly.
• If soldiers stoped fighting after winning a battle they would loose the war.
• Lastly, the turtle won the race by facing the finish line. ;)

Basically, this verse was a great reminder that I have a goal and I need to keep pushing toward it.