Patience is a virtue! Repeat as necessary!

My kids both ran the one mile fun run in the Mississippi Blues marathon Saturday and they did a great job! I was a proud mom and Shane and I ran the mile together which was nice. It proved to be a poor judgement call on my part but in the moment it was great to run together.

It has been a frustrating month and half or so over here at the Huff house. It is just one of those seasons of life when nothing seems to go right. Don't misunderstand me, there hasn't been anything tragic or particularly life changing. Just small irritating things. The things that will be day ruiners if you let them. It started with a new couch for the playroom that arrived with a rip and moved on to a new washer and dryer that had to be sent back, a cell phone that arrived broken, two calls to the dishwasher repair guy, and many phone calls to internet people, repair people, etc. Like I said, nothing life altering, just irritating. Running has been going about the same for the last 2 weeks.

Ten years ago when I was pregnant with Jenny she found a nice comfortable spot to sit for 9 months. Right on top of a sciatic nerve. More than one morning Shane had to practically carry me to the bathroom. My hips never quite recovered and it flares up from time to time. And right now is that time. For the past 2 weeks or so I have been battling some pretty serious pain that has sat me out at least 2 runs. Saturday was a long run-7 miles- the farthest so far. Because of crazy schedules this one was going to be a solo run. I was excited about it and felt mentally ready. Then I decided to run the fun run. Probably not the best idea.

A few hours later I started my solo run at a park nearby. After 1 1/2 miles I had to stop. I sat down at a park bench and was near tears. I decided to stick it out and run 2 minutes then walk 2 minutes. I did that for 4 miles and worked up to run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes. This was not how I had planned to run this 7 miles. I'm working on a strategy for the race and this was not it. It was a long 7 miles, but I did it.

I was at Walmart this morning returning something that I had ordered online that had arrived damaged. I had left my credit card at home so they were going to have to give a gift card. Then the computers crashed and I had to leave with my broken toaster oven. I was thinking about how this was par for the course these days when I began to realize that maybe the Lord was trying to teach me something.

We live in a world in which we don't have to wait for anything. Our cell phones and internet are lightning fast and when they are not it makes us crazy. We want movies on demand. We want internet banking so we don't have to stand in line. We want quick easy ways to loose weight. We want it fast and we want it now.

It think maybe the Lord is telling me that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace and PATIENCE. Be patient, wait on Him. Don't let "stuff" not working (including my body) steal your joy. I think He's also teaching me to rely on Him. I have been discouraged with my hips hurting. I want to run and I want to run fast and I want to run fast now! But I'm going to have to be patient and take care.

So tomorrow I'm going to go back to Walmart with a smile on my face, I'm going to call someone to repair the blinds in Jenny's room, and I'm going to call the doctor about my hips. I'm going to be patient and wait on the Lord.

My verse for last week was Philippians 1:6 - Be confident of this! He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I'm claiming it for this week too and I am going to be confident that with patience I can run this race.