Week 9 Lessons Learned Mountain Biking

My husband and I love mountain biking, being our favorite hobby. Whenever we visit my mom near north GA, we take advantage of having a free babysitter and take our mountain bikes and hit the trails. These trails are also better than the ones in the low country.

Focus. Are you focused on what you want, or on what you don’t want? When I take fast turns on the trails, especially going down hill, I use to have to slow down a lot or I would run off the trail not cutting it sharp enough. Then one day I took the advise of my husband and looked ahead down the trail where I want to head, instead of looking down where I don’t want to go. As the ride went on he even noticed that I was faster. How life is the same, with it being so important to focus on the purpose of my life, controlling my thoughts and not thinking about the things I don’t want. This is going to lead me to get what I want out of life.

Ease. How easy is it to complete something you haven’t done before compared to something you have done many times? When we were biking the other day I knew there was a ditch coming up that goes down a steep trail and then goes right back up. I was looking forward to it this day, knowing I would do it with ease since I have done it so many times. I was thinking back to the first time I did it with great fear and was not successful without having to take my foot off the pedal to help myself up the rest of the way. Now I have moved on to accomplish bigger drop offs on the mountain bike. So when I have a task before me, if I have not done it before, the fear has made me procrastinate doing it initially. Now I can remember lessons learned and jump in knowing with practice it will continue to get easier until I master it and am ready for bigger new challenges.

Week 8 Letting Go of Pride

Well this week had its ups and downs.  Thursday I was sick with fever aches and all I wanted to do was lay down, which is not possible much with a 1 and 4 year old at home.  I am prideful in thinking that I don’t get sick because I eat so healthy, but the last couple years with lacking sleep from the little ones has not been good on my immune system.  I see where I have work to do because my thoughts that day could have been much better.  But God is good and gave me a “rose” by my guide mailing me an encouraging card and compass and magnifying glass!  And I felt amazingly better the next day.  So thankful.  My schedule got thrown off, but today has been a great day of catching up.  My DMP is still being fine tuned with more emotion, which has been challenging for me.  I’m excited about learning to do that better.  I also started my chore/service today going through a huge pile of paper work.  It looked like a tornado hit the dinning room!  And my old self would have gotten distracted with something else and I would not have cleaned it up today.  But I am committed to getting it done by end of Sunday so I feel very accomplished and relieved seeing it all cleaned up, much out in the recycling, and the rest filed away very organized.  I’m excited about seeing family this week, giving no opinions, but giving much love.

Week 7 Becoming focused

Have you ever experienced a scenario that has an effect like this?

Say a teenager goes to buy a car without a clear picture of exactly what he wants, just needing something reliable and affordable. That day after talking with some sales people and looking at his options he buys a dark grey Honda Civic. He doesn’t recall seeing a car with this color and style before and is quite fond of it. Then as he is driving it the next few weeks, to his surprise, he notices other cars exactly like his!

It makes me free more alive and in tune with my growth and purpose when a common theme keeps popping up at me from various conversations or situations.

I’m reading a book in a women’s community group called The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. I have been impressed how much this reading compliments what I’m learning in the Master Keys. This excerpt really jumped out at me with the words within and without:

“It is vain to guard our minds and emotions against that which comes from without if we do not at the same time deal with habits of sin which are within. The battle for holiness must be fought on two fronts— without and within. Only then will we see progress toward holiness.”

The first scroll of The Greatest Salesman talks a lot about destroying bad habits and replacing them with good habits. Bridges talks about this a lot as well, “These repeated acts of unrighteousness became habits that made us, in fact, slaves to sin” (bad habits). “But now, Paul declared, just as we formerly gave ourselves to these wicked habits, so we are to give ourselves to developing habits of holiness (Romans 6: 19). We are to put off our old self —our sinful disposition and its habits—and put on the new self— with its character and habits of holiness. To train ourselves in godliness (1 Timothy 4: 7) is to discipline and structure our lives so that we develop godly habits. Putting off these sinful habits is what Paul calls mortifying or putting to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8: 13).” And “The first principle is that habits are developed and reinforced by frequent repetition.” This is exactly what we are doing in this class with our assignments.

Also, through this experience I am even more appreciating how powerful our minds are. The exercise reading the gal in the mirror and telling myself, “I love you,” was odd to me at first but I committed to do it when after a week I realized that my husband loves me, God loves me, etc, why can I not love me? I think my guarding against this is rooted in not wanting to be selfish and put myself before others but I had taken it so far that I thought it was wrong to love myself in this way.

Then the webinar last night about reading faster even more impressed me with the power of the mind, but that will be a story for another day as I practice those skills.

Week 6 No Opinions?

We were challenged to not express any opinions at all.  I have been challenged at church to not complain, and if you do, to put a penny in a jar to hold you accountable.  But to say no opinions takes it to a whole new level for me.  I have caught myself after the fact many times, and started to sometimes catch myself before, then at times not knowing what to say at all.  Learning to be the observer, and think before I speak.  I certainly found myself giving opinions when working on a sale, not sure how to not.  I also realized this week I need to work on what to say to someone when they are gossiping and I don’t need to listen to it.  I don’t know what words to use to do so because I still want to be sensitive to their feelings.  Or is needing to be sensitive the old blueprint talking?  I do what to show love in all that I do.  I have become much more aware of what others are saying.  On the radio, they were requesting that people submit their opinions.  Then Sunday at church my pastor was preaching about how to deal with conflict and one thing he said was to learn to separate truth from opinions!

With the “do it now” exercise, I am noticing myself not procrastinating as much at times.  I am starting to complete tasks ahead of deadline, when it is there in front of me to do, not thinking “I’ll do it later.”  I still have a ways to go as I’m typing this blog the night it is due, but I’m very happy to see progress with some things.

I finally have my DMP done, well for now.  I thought I would be celebrating it but I was left with a message to leave it as is, until I see the light.  I’m honestly struggling with that comment, not liking the thought that I’m in the dark, but I guess that is pride I’m dealing with there.  I was thinking this last draft was night and day better than the first draft, but now I don’t know where I am at.  I know I have a lot more to learn, just unsettled at the moment.  It is the challenges that help us grow.