Sit up. Push up. Repeat.

I'm joining the fad. The push-up challenge. I'm going to be buff. That's a lie.

Confession time: I'm a cardio junkie. I run. I swim. I bike. I elliptical. Whatever. I could do 6 days a week of straight cardio, and be more than happy. On the flip side of that, I despise weight training. I know that it's good for me to strength train. I know that it'll make me stronger in a way that endurance cardio never will. I just don't like it. Is that valid?

So, I have a new game plan: instead of trying to go to the gym to lift weights (trying? who am I kidding? it never happens), I'm going to focus on doing just a few minutes a day of some strength training at home. I can spare a few minutes a day, right? Of course. Something little every day adding up to something awesome over the long term.

Alternating days with the push-up challenge, I'm going to do Whittle My Middle. It's a favorite of mine (by a great health/food blogger!). Maybe, this way, my abs won't be so sore for days and days post-half marathon.

Weekends make me happy. They just do.

Remember this?

I made it into this:

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 cups diced rhubarb
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup rolled oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.
4. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.

Warm out of the oven with a scoop (or two) of ice cream=happiness.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day!

Captivating

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul (Revised and Expanded)
By John and Stasi Eldredge
Thomas Nelson





Captivating, co-authored by husband-wife team, John and Stasi Eldrege, explains in very simple terms the core of a woman's soul. The premise of the book is based on the presupposition that, "Every woman in her heart longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty."

We, as women, want to be a part of something. We want to be found valuable, irreplaceable, and beautiful. Stasi, through personal anecdotes, addresses the fact that the world has quelched these desires. In varying degrees, we've had wounds inflicted on us from childhood that lead us to believe that the opposite is true: that we aren't valuable, that we aren't beautiful, that no one needs us. We have been led to believe that in order to fix this hurt, we must be "good Christian women," we must follow a list of neatly scripted bullet points and how-to's. Unfortunately, these "how to's" tend to focus on our exterior actions, and not on the heart of the issue.

Captivating reminds you to pay attention to your heart. It encourages you to return to the desires that you had as a little girl, and to begin the search for romance in your story. It may not be as hard to find as you think it is.

Happy, happy weekend!

I just love weekends. I love weekends exactly like this one; weekends in which you have very little to do, nowhere to be. And so, you are able to just BE.

Yesterday I took advantage of my backyard (I mean, the park) and enjoyed the sunshine, The Horse Whisperer,

and a Green Monster:

Last night, though I have no pictures to prove it, I went to see a friend north of Fort Wayne. We played volleyball, consumed the best lasanga and cheesecake ever, and talked. A lot. So good!

This morning, my running buddy copped out on me due to illness. True confessions: I am secretly thrilled that I don't have to run 10 miles today. In lieu of the run, I spent my morning going to the farmers market, Aldis, and then a random garage sale on the way home. Farmer's market purchase:















How does one cook rhubarb? I only have a pound of it, so it's not enough to make a pie or tarts or anything. What would it do on oatmeal? In stirfry? I'll have to research, and then will keep you posted.

This beautiful mystery

Art is difficult to label; it’s difficult to pin down the exact meaning of a piece into a nice, tidy, three sentence description. It seems indefinable. It’s a mystery. We know that, whatever it is, it is a beautiful, awe-inspiring, convicting work; but a precise definition eludes us. What is it about that work that convicts you so? Why do you find it so beautiful? Why is it so inspiring?

Writer Randy Smith says, “Because of the awe-inspiring relationship between God and man, the symbolic essence of creation, the image-bearing nature of human beings, and the limitless riches of the gospel, artists can rest assured that they dig into a world and experience that is saturated with meaning—they do not chase phantom rabbits of beauty and truth” (The Wonder of It all). Read that again; there’s a lot packed in there.

Another way to look at it is this: because of…
1. Our relationship with God
2. The essence of creation
3. The fact that we bear God’s image
4. The gospel
...we live in a world full of meaning.

Our God is a God of mystery. It is no secret that we, in our finite human-ness, do not understand all of the complexities of our triune God. Through our art-making, we can portray an aspect of the mystery and the beauty of God that cannot be explained in a bullet-ed list. We can hand our audiences a way to understand something about themselves; we can give them respite from the cut-and-dried reality of the world. Through art, we can offer people another perspective as they gaze upon and seek to understand the great Mystery.

Today's the day

"There will come a day that you can no longer do this. Today is not that day."

Yesterday, my housemate and I ran 8 miles. Was it fast? No. Was it easy? Of course not. Did we have fun? Well....it was nice to spend some time together, I suppose, though I can think of more pleasant ways to bond.

If that's the case, why do I run?

I've thought about this a lot over my last couple of years of running, and I've come up with several reason. In reality, the reasons change depending on the season of life I'm in.

Running has been...my stress relief...my challenge...my therapy.

Running has gotten me through...busy times...down times...happy times...heartbreak...stress.

So, why do I run? A bunch of reasons, I guess. It's a challenge; it's a way that I push myself to the limit. But ultimately, I run because I love it. I run because it's good for my body and it's good for my soul. I run because I know that I won't always be able to. I run because I can.

It's OK

Today, someone walked into my office to tell me exactly what I need to hear: it's OK to be frustrated with God. That may sound strange, but bear with me.

I often wander through life wondering, "Should I stay or should I go?" Unlike The Clash, however, I'm talking life path decisions, not the most recent romantic fling. Is God calling me to remain here? Or does He have something else for me? And if He has something else, what is it? Where is it? Under which rock is He hiding the news?

In times of waiting, people offer platitudes such as, "Trust God. Wait in Him. He hasn't abandoned you. He'll do something big. You need just to rest and to wait in Him." This makes sense. This is Biblical. There are many verses that back their statements up. Psalm 37:5, says, "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently on Him, " and Lamentations 3:25 reminds, "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him." Waiting on God isn't a new thing. His people have been doing it for centuries and centuries. Remember men and women like Abraham, Moses, Job, and Hannah?

Honestly, when I hear such statements, my response is much like that of a belligerent child, "Yeah? You want to work in my life? Go for it. Show me. Because right now, I don't feel like you are, and I don't see how this is going to work out. Much less how this could possibly work out for anything resembling my good." I recognize that this is not exactly a holy reaction.

And yet, I was reminded today that it's OK. This is not to say that my whining is music to God's ears; however, it is to say that he remains good and constant and Love even when I am questioning his perfect plan. It is to say that it's OK to wait. And while I wait, it's OK to ask God why I'm waiting. It's OK to tell Him that I'm frustrated. To ask Him what the point is. David and the Psalmists did it often (see Ps. 55:17, 72:12, 88:1, 130:1).

He has a purpose and a plan; He promises. Proverbs 2:3 and 5 say, "If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding...then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." Right there in the Book of Wisdom, it says to cry out to God for an explanation, and find Him.

Even without the end of the waiting in sight, even when the odds seem to be stacked against my cause, God is there; He's there to stand in my weakness as my strength and my comfort. Whether I want to or not, I need to lean into Him, trust, and, when I have questions, to "cry out for understanding". Even when I want to throw myself to floor and kick and scream like a child---especially in those moments---He's there for me to cry out to. He never ceases to be perfectly good and perfectly God, loving me through the times of waiting and questioning.