A Good Day

My plans for yesterday were to finish a couple of chores around the house during homeschool hours, stop by the bank, and rake leaves with the kids until dark.

Oh—and also respond to an email that had been sitting in my inbox for a couple of days.

I started off the day with that email, in between discussing and googling some USSR history with my fifteen-year-old daughter and husband, over a cup of coffee and random chitchat. She didn't actually have her history book open at the moment, but a homeschooling lifestyle seizes every teaching opportunity.

My day took a sudden turn with a phone call from a friend who's a single mom. Her four-year-old son has been sick and needed a trip to the doctor, but she was too incapacitated with the flu to drive.

No problem. I headed over, we piled into her van (to keep my kid-van quarantined from flu), and began a circuitous route between doctor's office, two pharmacies, health food store, back to her house for an insurance card, and then back to the first pharmacy. Her van had a recurring problem that I had fixed a month ago when it was still our van, so I also made a trip to the dealer to resolve that.

A day around flu and hugging close to me a child with strep throat had already brought me to actually purchase and use the hand sanitizer that I loathe. What I really wanted to do after being gone for five hours was take a nice hot shower and change clothes. Instead, I tackled the dishes that my daughters usually do, since they had spent the day at home covering for me.

I then managed one of my chores, forced myself to relax and watch a movie with my daughter, and finished off the day with a last-minute mending request and a tweet of thanks to Jason Stasyzen before saying bedtime prayers.

Bedtime prayers are usually about thanks for today and hope for tomorrow. I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all I didn't get done—with banks closed for Veteran's Day, I couldn't even stop in the bank I drove by three times! But something about prayer with the kids compels me to find that gratitude and hope, even when I'm not feeling it.

So I thanked the Lord for our family's health, and our ability to help someone else in need. I asked our Creator to bring health to loved friends and their van. I shared a thimbleful of my frustration, and asked the God Who holds my calendar in His hands to help me use my time wisely in the day to come.

Which is today. I begin it by affirming that yesterday did not go at all as I planned, but it was a good day—I allowed it to go as God planned.

This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
~ Psalm 118:24 (NKJV)


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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Victory's Demand

[Note: It's been a year since I did daily posts. I sense the time has come to do so again. See my blog sidebar for the planned schedule. ~ Anne]

~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

Twice a week, I sit in a church gymnasium with one eye on a laptop and the other on my two sons' martial arts class. The "ki hap!" yells which punctuate the group's kicks and thrusts are merely white noise, but silent sparring interrupts me when my boys are front and center.

A group of cheerleaders recently joined the white noise. The last portion of their practice overlaps the early portion of Tang Soo Do class, resulting in an interesting cacophony when both sides of the gym are engulfed in top-of-the-lungs shouting.

On the east half of the gym, perky misses with scant clothing bounce and smile and impossibly maneuver limbs through the cheers intended to propel athletes through whatever scheduled contest their team confronts. On the west half of the gym, solemn students practice techniques which are occasionally displayed in tournament competition, but might never be confronted with a surprise contest to defend life of self or loved one.

One group trains to bolster an arranged battle where teams aggressively engage each other. One group trains for a potential battle they must avert when it is honorably possible.

Both groups develop stamina and push through pain with the fervor victory demands. Both pursue individual excellence, to be employed on behalf of others.

Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever. That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches. I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control ...
~ 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (GNB)

Few of us train for the gold medal in track or spar daily to prepare for a boxing match.

But all of us need to train hard and train daily for spiritual contests. We need endurance for the grueling race of life, and well-practiced maneuvers for the spiritual battles certain to ambush us. Running our eyes over a few Bible verses and thrusting out words of "thank You" and "please God?" toward the air of Heaven isn't going to produce the excellence Paul directs us to demand of ourselves as a necessity.

We know the war is won. But we can still suffer casualties during the daily battles if we fail to regularly train with the fervor victory demands.

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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.