Getting in shape

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)
     
     

Me and Wilbur Dean 

Hiking season has officially begun for hubby and me.
     
We took our first hike of the season on Easter Sunday afternoon, and, according to Dean’s GPS, trekked 2.25 miles over the trails here on the Huey homestead.
     
“No steep hills or thrashing through dense underbrush,” I warned DH as I laced up my hiking boots.
     
Off we went, Dean with his weighted backpack (he’s getting in shape for a fall hunting trip to Colorado) and me with a water-bottle-stuffed fanny pack and my walking stick named “Wilbur Dean” for the man who made it for me. (Note: “Wilbur Dean” refers to my walking stick; “Dean” or “DH” refers to my Dear Husband.)
     
The second week we hiked 2.5 miles with some climbing, and last week we put on 3 miles—and me with a bigger fanny pack (to hold more water bottles).
     
Oh, I felt that third hike—for two days.
     
But if I’m to enjoy hiking and the scenic views of God’s beautiful creation while doing so, I must discipline myself to get in shape so I won’t be huffing and puffing and stopping every 25 steps to catch my breath (like I did on our hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains last year) and won’t hurt so much at the end of a hike.
     

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

So in January I began a training program to get myself in shape—walking indoors, working out on the elliptical trainer which I talked DH into getting me for Christmas (he uses it more than I do), and water aerobics and swimming several times a week. My goal is to hike 5 miles without feeling like I’m dead or nearly so by the end of May.
     
Building up my stamina—training myself to endure more and more—can be grueling and painful. It takes time out of an already too-busy schedule. But it’s vital if I’m to grow stronger and build up my endurance.
     
The same goes for our spiritual life.
     
If we are to grow and become stronger in our faith, we must do more than endure the hard times and the difficult circumstances that appear on the trail of life. We must allow them to stretch us and make us stronger and better. We must embrace them and cooperate with them.
     
And when you get to the point when it seems impossible to put one foot in front of the other, you say, “I can do this. I can do all things through Christ, who gives me the strength” (Philippians 4:13).
     
So keep stepping, Pilgrim. Your faith, which is more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7), is in training.
     
     
Thank you, Lord, for the faith-building exercises You send my way. Give me the strength to endure them and remind me to stop frequently and enjoy the view. Amen.

More tea: Read 1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Hebrews 12:5–13

So, I'm thinking, how can I use this in my next book?

What's coming down the pike . . . 

Getaway Mountain

Reclusive romance novelist Melody Harmon, her career on the skids, flees to her writing retreat in the Pennsylvania mountains rather than team up with Don Bridges, an ex-cop turned suspense writer.  When she discovers caches of cash - to the tune of a million dollars - she assumes it's her late husband's gambling winnings. Then dead bodies start popping up. Don wants to help her solve the mystery, but trust isn't one of her strong points. Can she overcome the pain of betrayal and learn to trust and love again? 

I'm currently working on the edits on this one, the first in a romantic suspense series featuring Melody and Don. I'll keep you posted. 

Enjoy your week. 

Blessings,

Michele

Dean's jungle

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38–39 NIV
     
     

I call it “Dean’s Jungle”—the potted plant my husband lugged up from his mother’s house after she passed away.

That was in 1999. You’d think, with my track record with plants, the thing would be long wilted. But no, it’s green and growing and ugly (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, remember).

Even after having once been cut back to its roots, it stands over 5 feet high and is just as wide, its thick branches spreading out like an unruly child - branches that produce waxy, jungle-like leaves that spit wax because everything within a foot of it eventually acquires a waxy coating that’s a bugger to clean off.
     
During the summer months, Dean’s Jungle soaks in the sunshine on the back deck in a corner where I can’t see it, but where it gets plenty of wind, which, when strong enough, blows it over, spewing potting soil that you-know-who has to sweep up (not DH, and it’s his plant).
     
When fall comes around, it’s time to bring the monstrosity indoors. Last winter, my daughter-in-law kept it at their place since I didn’t have the room. So I claimed. Truth be told, I just didn’t want to make room for that dreadful thing. But, knowing what it means to my husband, I couldn’t bring myself to leave it outside once the nights brought killing frosts.
     
When spring arrived, guess what else did? And here I’d hoped the plant would grow on its adopted family. But no. Back on the deck Dean’s Jungle went to endure another windy summer. But come fall my daughter-in-law said she didn’t have room for it. She probably didn’t. Despite being blown over and alternately drowned and dried, the thing had grown up and out.
     
Fortunately for DH and unfortunately for me, we had the room downstairs since I’d given away my piano. Dean drove two 5-foot wooden stakes into the pot and tied the branches to them. At first the plant rebelled, dropping leaves like a mangy mutt during shedding season. Dean feared the plant was dying. I hoped it was.
     
But, alas, it was just preparing for another growth spurt. Now it thrives in the light streaming in from the southwestern window. Despite the fact that Dean forgets to water it and I purposely don’t. It just reaches for the sunlight and survives.
     
Dean’s Jungle is a living example of the kind of love Paul describes in1 Corinthians 13—a love that perseveres even when neglected. A steadfast love that never gives up, never fades, never wilts. A love that is everlasting.
     
The kind of love God has for us.
     
Father, forgive me when I take Your love for granted—when I ignore it, reject it, treat it as though it was something I deserve, something I’m entitled to. Remind me Your love is a gift I don’t even have to ask for. It’s there for the taking. Help me to love others as You love me. Amen.

More tea: Read Romans 8:31–39

The lone tulip

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

I noticed it one spring day: a lone, bright red tulip swaying in the breeze in the front yard.

“Where did that come from?” I wondered. I’d given up planting flowers since either the country critters consume them or our stubborn soil defeats their efforts to grow and blossom.

Then I remembered: About 20 years earlier, I planted spring bulbs. But nothing came up – then.

I have no idea why, after more than two decades, that lone tulip pushed up out of nowhere. But I thought about what it could mean. Perhaps God was reminding me not to give up hope that the seeds I’d planted in service to Him would someday come to fruition. In this results-and-rewards minded world, it’s difficult not to evaluate our efforts by the outcome. I thought of all the children I’d taught in Sunday school and Bible Club. How many seeds had sprouted? Of the ones I knew, very few. Was all my work in vain?

The business world tells us to put our efforts where we get results. But God’s service is not the business world. I thought of the greatest seed-planter in the Bible. Paul wasn’t caught up in the numbers game. He knew what his job was and kept his focus on that.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm,” Paul wrote. “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Give me the strength and fortitude to keep on planting, Lord, even if I don’t see the blossoms until eternity. Amen.

Special-Tea:Psalm 126:5-6