Russell Media - Laurie

Have you ever run in a road race and the finish line is just up ahead? Doesn’t it seem like an eternity away?

Boise hosts a handful of road races for kids. Our kids love these events and make sure we sign them up every year. Their favorite is a 1-mile race held near the end of school. There are over 1,000 kids that participate in this spirited event.

Last year Mark and I placed ourselves a few hundred yards before the finish line. Usually the race runs one gender at a time and divides the kids into age groups – with the older kids going first in order to prevent overly ambitious14-year-olds from running over an absent-minded 6-year-old.

It was near the end of the boys run and Mark had taken off to find our son Noah who had already crossed the finish. I remained in our spot, awaiting the start of the girls. As I looked down the road I saw a little boy who had yet to finish. He was now walking. His face was red and his eyes were full of tears. He was coming in last place.

His father saw him and quickly ran out to the street to join him and finish the race with him. He encouraged his son; trying to get him to run again but the little boy wanted none of it. He squealed at his dad – he was embarrassed and didn’t want to run.

All the other parents on the sideline saw what was going on. As the boy approached us, the mom next to me began cheering, “Keep going! You’re about to finish 1 mile!”

The rest of us joined in with her and the cheering the began to spread down the line. The little boy looked to the crowd, realizing that we were all cheering for him. The defeated look on his face turned into determination and he sprinted to the finished and ended his race strong.

It’s amazing how our outlook can change when we have the encouragement of others. Our mountains become mole hills and what once seemed impossible becomes possible.

We are all going to have times when the finish line is like a mirage in the desert and want to give up. But – if we surround ourselves with  positive people who will sincerely cheer us on to finish the race that God has set before us – we’ll finished determined, not defeated.

There is a time to run and there is a time to cheer. It’s tempting to hog the spotlight but we need to be sure that we’re also spectators for others as they accomplish their goals. I’m not speaking of flattery but authentic words of encouragement.

The road can be rough and we’re not meant to go it alone.

Cheers my friends!

Has there been a time when the encouraging words of others helped you through a rough patch?

A couple of weekends ago it was my birthday and the kids wanted to do a breakfast for me. I was excited to be able to sleep in and the kids were thrilled to be in charge of the meal. Early on the morning of my big day (unfortunately “big” here refers to the number on my cake) the kids snuck into our room and urged Mark out of bed to help them.

Thirty minutes later Noah, my 9-year-old, entered our bedroom carrying a cup of coffee, oblivious to the thin streams of coffee that were actively dripping off the side of the cup (it appears he inherited my lack of coordination).  Yes – time for leisure reading with a cup of java. He smiled in triumphant of his accomplishment as handed me the cup of coffee. He proudly told me the menu - hot, gluten-free biscuits, eggs and bacon and then ran back downstairs to join the others.

Another fifteen minutes passed and Anastasia, who had turned 8 the day before, scurried into the room, “I made the biscuits all by myself but the recipe only made three biscuits for some reasons??!! Weird, huh! So I’m making more. Can you wait a little bit longer?” More time to sip coffee and read...no problem! She was excited to be in lady of the kitchen and skipped out of the room.

Not long after that Noah returned. He was concerned that I was bored reading by myself so he thought if he read in bed with me, it would keep me from being lonely. (Yep, I suspected a double purpose on that kind gesture but I wasn’t about to lose the opportunity of one-on-one with him.) So the two of us cuddled and read. It was fun, however, there was rumbling in my belly and I was getting hungry.

Finally it was time to eat. I was ushered to my chair and a plate filled with runny eggs, half-cooked bacon and biscuits that looked more like thin cookies than biscuits. Anastasia was immediately upset by the appearance of the meal, “It doesn’t look right!”

We reassured her that the taste was all that mattered with food. We prayed and dug into our meal. It was…”okay” and I was earning an Oscar for my interpretation of eating at a 5-star restaurant until I got to the biscuits. I tried, I really, really did. However, when I bit into the biscuit my mouth involuntarily puckered up and I began feeling a slight burning sensation followed by a metallic taste on my tongue. I faked a reason to go into the kitchen and quickly spit it the biscuit into the trash. Unfortunately our kitchen and dining room are open and everyone caught me in the act (costing me the Oscar for this year.)

In my head I was quickly trying to come up with an excuse to why I did that and before I had to, ahem…lie, Anastasia had taken a bite and discovered the same problem. The biscuits tasted like pure baking soda. If you’ve ever eaten a spoonful of baking soda unexpectedly, you know it’s hard to not respond. Anastasia was heart-broken. All her hard work backed with her pure motive of serving me felt wasted. She thought she had failed.

But she was so, so wrong. Okay, I was still hungry and felt a bit nauseated after the biscuit but – I have never before felt so loved on a birthday. Those kids planned, gave up sleep and worked hard, thinking of everything with the sole reason to make me feel special and loved…and I did!

There have been times when I have served and tried to show God my love for him in service but things went wrong – the talk was boring, the article wasn’t clear or I fumbled over my words when talking about God to others. However, God isn’t interested in perfection. He only cares about the purity of motives in my heart. Like me with my kids, He loves seeing us show our love for Him with all of our heart.

So the next time you face a blunder when serving God – don’t feel as if you’ve failed Him. If your motives are pure, I’m pretty sure His heart will be overflowing with the feeling of being loved.

How do you feel and respond with your acts of service to God go wrong?