Everything I write I must admit proudly will circle back around to Christ as he is the foundation of my peace. In all aspects of my life I see his handiwork…….I have been teaching Sunday School for more than 20 years……..I love to teach children the simplicity of the gospel. This past week as I taught class I compared this christian walk to a race…..I love to compare life to a route on a run that you are unfamiliar with that you are uncertain how far it is, if it is hilly or flat, the weather uncertain and you simply do not know when your race’s finish line will appear…so we should run every day strong…run it well. That is the runner……what about when we are in the role of the water station volunteers, the first aid, the time keepers, all the support roles that come with helping others run a race? What about when you are running and you see another runner struggling – you don’t heckle them or yell GIVE UP — GO HOME, no there is the atmosphere that exist in these events – runners who have never met have a connection…..they yell YOU GOT THIS! Someone fall? kick them as you run by? No another runner will quickly sacrifice their goal to hit a time/pace – they stop to help the fellow runner. As we talked about all the aspects of a run we focused on the “water station.” We talked about how people are tired and hot and struggling and it is your job to hand them that glass of water – to cheer them on, how we ARE our brother’s keeper…..we need to pull together encourage one another in this spiritual race – if we see someone who has yet to join the race that we take the time from our run to invite them to join. I was pleased that my classroom really took in this approach and embraced it as we made goals as a group to make a difference this year….they set goals and determined that the name of our youth group was going to be the GOD SQUAD. YAY, right? After teaching for this many years there is nothing like that feeling that you have really connected and shared the gospel….this is the beautiful thing about Jesus, he is always teaching us more if we will but listen, while I was teaching my class he was teaching me. With this lesson fresh on my mind as I went into my week I continued to think about all the “CHEERLEADERS” in our lives — so many that we can give God great thanks for placing them in our lives, we only need to recognize these moments. Fast forward from the Sunday School Class and travel with me to my local yoga studio that I am so thankful for…..the instructors are golden the other yogis are always quick to smile but typically Yoga is more of a quiet on your mat simply encouraging one another by focusing on your space but tonight as I went to class our instructor did this awesome thing…she said since we have a smaller class we are going to work on handstand – told us to pull our mats to a wall space and she instructed, encourage and assisted and you know what? When she first said we were going to do this, my mental reaction was there is no way I am going to be able to do this…..but by the end of this portion of class I did kick up and do a handstand, with an assist and the wall assisting me, but nevertheless all 44 years of me was standing on her head and I felt strong and encouraged but the greatest thing was the CHEERLEADERS in that moment sharing my space, people I do not know in my everyday life – they encouraged, they clapped they were happy for me when I was able to kick up. I was overwhelmed in that moment with thanks for this beautiful life in its’ entirety and I was immediately taken in mind the scripture…if God be for me who can be against me……I thought of the young man that felt there was no hope yet Elisha encouraged him ……..”And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17″
We are surrounded by “Cheerleaders” in this life, we only need to open our eyes – I am thankful for all the beautiful cheerleaders that have been placed in my life – I am blessed beyond measure, I have hard days, I have challenges that I struggle to overcome yet I am blessed….let us run this beautiful life every day strong and always strive to be a cheerleader ourselves.
