Trail Hazards

I am participating in a Co-op with some of my children as the “helper” to my friend Sharon Barker in her “Mission Minded” class.  She has blessed me and encouraged me SO much as I have watched her teach our children!  And this week our assignment was to “BE COURAGEOUS!”

SO…

This is me completing my assignment to be courageous and get back to writing… starting here on my blog.

As I was running today with my 7 year-old and 9 year-old on our family trail, I realized I did something for them naturally out of my mama heart to love and protect them…

You see, I’ve run our trail longer and more than they have.  I know where the hole is where my husband removed a big rock to protect the mower blades.   I know where the gas company dug a big trench and left a narrow ditch right in the middle of the path.  I even know where the ground hogs have dug, leaving the ground unstable!  All of these things are covered with grass and are hard to see, unless you know they are there.  So, as I’m running with them, I say, “Jump over this… Run on that side of the trial… avoid this soft patch and stay on the solid ground.”  I even had to remind my daughter to take her hands out of her pockets in case she were to fall, so she wouldn’t land on her face.  Sometimes they look at me like I’m crazy or over-protective.

The thing is, I’ve been on other trails, hit rocks with my foot and hit the rocky ground HARD.  I know what it feels like to fall, and it hurts.  It’s hard to get back up and keep running and to be strong.  That is why I want to protect them.  I love them!

That is just like our life too.  In my life I’ve been on some rocky paths and made some bad decisions and fell on my face, HARD.  It hurt and I hurt others.  I want my kids to understand that there are hazards that can trip you up and make you fall.  These hazards can slow you down or even keep you from running altogether if you get hurt bad or fall hard enough.  Some day they will be running on other “trails” of their own choosing and climb their own mountains and run their own races for the glory of God.  My hope and prayer is that they will have learned to heed my voice and jump when I say, “jump” or avoid that pitfall when I point it out, not resisting my words (knowing they are coming from a heart of love and devotion), so that they will eventually learn to heed the voice of their Heavenly Father and His word (also a testimony of love and devotion). And when they are out in the world on rocky paths with cliffs on both sides, they will stay on the straight and narrow path, looking to their Heavenly Father for strength to get back up when they fall and endurance for the journey.

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