The Finish Line

The other night we were celebrating the end of regular season baseball with a team party at the bowling alley. My husband had a coaches meeting at the field so he met us at the bowling alley after his meeting. On the way home he pulled up beside us at a red light and made silly faces at my children. Because they're boys they immediately yelled for me to "Race him! Beat daddy home!"

Let me pause here and say that we did not once go over the speed limit or drive dangerously but we "raced" daddy home. We started on highway 280 so there were multiple lanes of traffic but as the "race" went on I could tell we were going to win. The boys were so worried about daddy beating us. Even when Chris got stopped at a red light and we pulled ahead they continued to ask where he was. Every single car that got near us they panicked asking, "Oh No! Is that Daddy??? Don't let him beat us!" I kept telling them he was nowhere near us. We got this, boys!

Eventually the two lane road turned into a one lane road and the one lane road turned into a country road and the country road turned into our finish line. As we pulled into the driveway, finally, Walker said, "Ok, I think you are right mommy. We are going to beat Daddy." I couldn't help but reply and say, "Walker, I have been telling you all along that we would win. Why are you just now believing me?"

And in the exact moment those words came out of my mouth my heart was so convicted. It's like I heard God say to me, "Brittany, I could ask you the same thing." Why does it take pulling into the driveway, crossing the finish line, to finally breathe a sigh of relief and say, "Ok God, NOW I trust you"? I think of how much calmer the ride home would have been if my boys would have trusted me from the beginning. We could have talked together, laughed, or had a dance party. Instead they were so focused on what was coming up behind us and whether or not we would win. I knew we would win just like God knows how every single race will turn out. When we face a problem we have two choices. We can constantly worry about what's coming up behind us or what's going on all around us or we can put our trust in God from the starting line and have a much calmer race knowing that whether we win or lose, he's running right beside us always.

"Dear Lord, forgive me for the races I have tried to run by myself. Forgive me for the times I have turned around and took my eyes off of you at the finish line. No matter what obstacles are coming up behind me I know that if I keep my eyes on you it doesn't matter who or what passes me. Thank you for your love, mercy, and grace."

It's cool to be kind.

I have always loved reading quotes.  There's something special about hearing or reading words that explain just the way you feel when you don't have the words to explain it yourself.  When I was younger I had a notebook and I would write down inspirational quotes in it that I found online or got out of books (mostly Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul - I loved those!).  Now that I am older and the quote book was thrown away during my "too cool" phase, I still love to read quotes.  Thank goodness for Pinterest because I have now traded my spiral notebook for a Words to Live by board on Pinterest.  I have a hard time falling asleep at night and I usually end up spending about an hour on Pinterest while I am trying to fall asleep and most of the time I am either looking at pretty fashion that I will never wear or reading quotes.  I reference my Words to Live by board quite often when I need a pick me up or a reminder for a particular situation.  I can actually read through my pinterest board and remember the situations I was going through based on the quotes I pinned. 

 

The other day I got a message from an old friend.  It read in part:

"I noticed your posts on Pinterest and have really been blessed by the confirmations you've been sharing about love and respect....I just wanted to confirm in you today that even the little things you do like pinning a message, are making an impact in one's daily life... at least it does for me."

 

When I pin a quote it is because I can relate to it or it affected me in a very personal way.  I know Pinterest is public but I really never thought about people reading my pins.  I guess it's like this blog - I put it out there but I wonder how many people actually read the posts.  I thought about the message from my friend throughout the day and I realized a couple of things.  One of the things I realized is that it is not weird or strange to let someone know that they are making a difference in your life, even if it is something small like their pins on pinterest.  So many times we wait until it is too late to tell people how we feel about them and I know I rarely thank people for the good things they do.  I have friends who I admire for many different reasons - friends who have inspired me in my motherhood journey, friends who have inspired me in my spiritual journey, and friends who have inspired me simply by the fact that they always seem to be positive and uplifting, a trait that takes work for me.  These friends have no idea that they have inspired me. 

 

I have a friend who posted a picture of her little boys playing in a creek and I thought to myself that she must be such a fun mom.  You better believe the next time we were near some dirty water I let my boys kick their shoes off, stomp in that water, and get dirty.  That is inspiration and that is something that changed the way I parent.  A simple facebook picture changed me.  That's the power that we have in this social media world that we live in and it is amazing, isn't it?

 

I challenge you to reach out to someone today who has inspired you in their everyday life and let them know that the little things do not go unnoticed.  It's cool to be kind. :)