Lessons from a Marathon

Today I had one of those moment that only parents can have.  It came quietly and gently in the midst of the kaos of almost two hundred and fifty kids running the last mile of a marathon.  There are 26.2 miles in a marathon and over the last four weeks, my kids have been in a run club that ran one or two miles everyday after school.  As I watched my kids line up and get ready, I could see the determination in their eyes as they both mentally prepared for the run ahead.  They were both nervous and yet excited.  The whole group of kids were.  The air horn sounded and off they went, one kid lost his shoe and another tripped, it was like watching the running of the bulls in Spain, yet instead of terror there was unbridled happiness and excitement, and that was just from the parents.

We waited cameras in hand and watched them run out of sight, then we waited nervously hoping that they would finish and that this would be a good experience.  Then all of a sudden we could see a kid in the distance, a lone runner ahead of the pack on the far side of the field. As this kid got closer we could see others coming and running. The excitement in the crowd grew as the girl got closer and closer until finally her name was called over the loud speaker and tremendous applause broke out. This applause did not stop until all two hundred and fifty kids were across the line, the last one a three year old who was being helped along by his mom.  He saw her and did not want to finish.  It was cute.

My moment happened, though, when I saw my son Spencer running with all of his heart; racing another kid to the finish. He wasn't going to let him win and as he crossed the finish line my emotions mixed and swirled until I was laughing and cheering and crying at the same time. I realized that my son had just accomplished something that I had not, he had run a marathon; my daughter too.  My daughter Emily did not really enjoy running at the beginning of this process, but she stuck with it and with her mom's encouragement and running beside her; Emily learned how to run and pace herself and she finished very strong and sprinted to the end.

Having your kids accomplish things that you have not is an awesome thing. I am so proud of them and how they stuck with this and how they have found something that they like to do. This experience will serve them well in the future. They both want to run some more and enter a 5K run in the future and now they are trying to get me, the guy in the family who hates running, to try. Watching my kids cross the finish line may just have been the motivation and inspiration I need; all my excuses and reasons for not liking to run disappeared when I saw my son and daughter race to the finish.  Life is too short to be in the cheering section forever, we need to get in the race.

That reminds me of one of my favorite verses in Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." We are called to be in the race of life, not in the crowd, or like the back of one school's shirts said,
Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, but never quit.  That is good advice.  So it looks like I get to buy some new running shoes.

Mothers Day

It is Mother's Day this morning and I am glad that it is.  I have been so blessed because of the Mothers in my life and I thank God for all of them.  The first ones that come to my mind are my great-grandmothers.  I can remember my Great-grandma Monk and my great-grandma Rossiter, as a little kid they seemed to regal and yet so warm and caring at the same time.  I will always remember seeing my greatgrandma Rossiter kneeling in prayer with my great-grandfather on their green chairs, that left a permanent impression on me that has made a difference in my life.   Great-grandma Monk had the coolest house in Toronto, one of those tall and thin duplexes in the old section of Little Italy.  It was awesome to go to her house and play with all the knick knacks around her place.  I actually haves the little ship in a bottle that I used to be enthralled with as a kid.  I spent hours trying to figure out how they got that boat into the bottle, with its soaring masts and sails.

My grandmothers were also amazing women.  My grandma Harrison was an inspiration.  She was always cooking or baking and she made the best Molasses Cookies, they are my favorite cookies to this day!  She also always had a hug and a kiss for us kids, no matter how annoying we got.  Some of the best times in my life were at my grandma Harrison's house for sleepovers.  When I woke up in the morning I would always catch grandma and  grandpa eating toast with cheese-wiz on it and doing their devotions.  They would pray for all of their kids and grandkids and I will never forget the feeling I got when I heard them pray for me, that has never left me either.

My grandma Rossiter always seemed solid, like nothing in the world would ever phase her.  It was always fun to go to her house in Oxford.  She lived in this big 100 year old house that we could get lost in.  Half of her house was used by the church for Sunday-school rooms and we were not supposed to go in there, but we did anyway, and when she would catch us she would just kind of laugh and call us out and get us doing something else.   I remember being at grandma Rossiters house and being amazed at the people who would come calling.  grandma was a true counsellor who would listen to peoples problems and issues and who would give Godly advice and then pray with them before they left.  That had a huge impact on me as a kid.

Then there is my Mom.  This will mark 15 mothers day's that I have been away from my Mom, living in Alberta while she is in Moncton New Brunswick.  The bible says that a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, but a man never really leaves his Mom.  I call my mom at least once a week because I need her input in my life and I need her wisdom.  I would be nothing today if it were not for my mother and the foundation that she laid in my life.  A foundation of faith and love that goes to the core of my character and who I am.  I can think back in my life, to the times when I really hurt my mom by doing stupid and hurtful things; and yet she loves me still no matter what.  That is why I think the bible describes mothers as being blessed.  It is because a mother is a mirror image of Gods grace and love.  They are a mirror image of His unconditional love and grace and no matter what we do or where we go the love of our mothers goes with us.   That love has kept me going more than once in my life.

Then there is the mother of my children.  I always thought I understood my mother, but I was only scratching the surface.  Observing my wife Christy, interact and love and nurture my children has opened my eyes to not only my mother and who she truly was, but to who my wife truly is.  My wife, like my mother and all my grandmothers and great-grandmothers and my wife's grandmothers; is an amazing and awesome person.  She can read our kids minds and tell when things are going to go wrong and then take a pre-emptive strike to mitigate damages.  She can wade into the fiercest fight between our kids and as cool as a cucumber, diffuse the situation and have our kids hugging and smiling two seconds later.  She holds a teaching job and yet balances work and family life like no other woman I know, finding time to do laundry too.  She is a statesmen, ambassador, crisis counsellor, hostage negotiator, artistic director, interior decorator, sanitary engineer, gourmet chef, C.E.O, administrative assistant, nurse, and in short the most amazing woman that I know.  I am truly blessed because of my wife Christy and I thank God for the time that I have been given to be with her.  Watching her with my kids is time well spent!

So to all the moms out there and to all the women who are moms to be, thank you for being great moms!  Happy Mothers Day!