Endurance

Devotion for the Week...

Paul and I have registered to run the Tely10 at the end of July. The Tely10 is a 10 mile, or 16 km, road race that we've been considering for a couple of years and this is the first time we're going to run it. I've never run 16 km at once before, but I'm really looking forward to the race.

To get ready, I'm using TrainAsOne, which is an app that creates individualized training plans that sync with my Garmin Forerunner 235 running watch. The app sets the duration and pace of each workout, then uses the data from the Garmin to analyze my performance and adjust my future runs as needed. I love the program, especially for the different types of runs it sets for me. There are interval runs (intervals of very fast with recovery periods in between), repetition runs (very short bursts of what I call 'crazy fast' with periods of recovery in between) and economy runs (steady runs at what the app has determined as my natural pace) among others.

The length of each run varies, with most of mine falling in the 25-60 minute range at this stage of my training. Sometimes, though, the app schedules an 11 minute economy run, which hardly feels worth the effort of changing into my running clothes. On one of those really short runs a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about how 11 minutes just feels silly and then I thought about how, for someone who doesn't run, 11 minutes would feel like an impossibility. If you're not in the habit of running, doing so for 11 minutes straight just isn't going to happen.

Over the weekend we were talking with my sister-in-law, Kim, about when she used to run a couple of years ago. She said that when she first started she'd walk from one light pole to the next one, then run to the next, walk to the one after that and then run to the next one. By slowly increasing the distance she ran, she eventually got to where she could run for 30 minutes straight. It was hard, but it was good, too.

That conversation, plus my own thoughts during that last short run, made me think of this verse from Romans: "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance" (Romans 5:3). That's from the NLT translation. In place of 'endurance' the NIV uses the word perseverance and the KJV uses patience.

Whether we call it endurance, perseverance or patience, most of us want to have it for dealing with life. We don't particularly want to go through the process of developing it, though. We just want it to spring forth, fully formed and functioning, so we can deal with the things life throws at us. Instead, it is those very things life throws at us, especially the hardest things, that cause us to develop the endurance.

Building up physical endurance is hard and it takes time and there's no substitute for doing the work. We can want endurance for years, but if we don't work to develop it then it will never happen. The same is true for spiritual and emotional endurance. Those difficult people in your life, the ones you have to be pleasant to even though you hate dealing with them all the time? They're helping to build your endurance. The financial situation you wish you could escape? Endurance. The chronic illness that has invaded your life? Endurance.

We all deal with things we wish had been indefinitely postponed, but whatever the situations, they're working to develop our endurance. Eventually, as we work through various hard situations, we will come to the place where things that used to bother us, don't bother us anymore, just as an 11 minute run can become so easy as to be laughable. It's hard, but it's good, too.

Dresden placemats

I've finally finished my mother-in-law's Christmas gift! Only 4 months late, lol, but better late than never, right?

Last fall, when I was working on my Hexie Rainbow quilt, my MIL pointed to a lemony-yellow hexie and told me that she'd love to have placemats made with that shade of yellow. A little later, she pointed out a lime green hexie and said that green would be perfect with the lemon yellow for a set of placemats. I can recognize a hint that broad, so I asked what colour she'd want with them 😊 She picked navy and maybe white, if the design needed another colour.

Then I debated what design to use until the middle of December, so I knew this particular gift would be late, though I didn't expect it to be this late. In the end, I came up with this dresden design because I wanted to make more dresdens after making my Dresden Log Cabin back in November.

My MIL is definitely right - those three colours look fabulous together! All three are Northcott solids and I used Warm and Natural batting along with Aurifil thread.

I started by quilting the center of the dresden with Aurifil 2785 and then I outlined the dresden twice, once right at the edge and once ¼" away. The swirl hooks in the background were a lot of fun to quilt, but it was hard to squeeze them in some of the small spaces. That's where my love of tiny quilting came in handy, lol.

FYI, the placemat is flat, the brick wall behind it isn't

I wasn't sure what to quilt in the dresden itself at this point, so I quilted the borders next. Simple back and forth lines in the green and wishbones in the yellow add wonderful texture. Both are done with Aurifil 1231 (spring green) which had the remarkable ability to look yellow on the green fabric and green on the yellow fabric 😊

Then, thanks to a Pinterest search, I found this quick and simple, but oh-so-pretty design for in the dresden, which is also done with 1231.

I love a solid for quilt backings! I backed the placemats with the navy, even though it looks lighter in this picture. Isn't all of that quilted texture amazing??

I love the Aurifil 1231 on the navy 😊

I love my labels from Finer Ribbon, but I don't like how they flap on smaller projects. I decided to try stitching them into the corners of the placemats and I'm so pleased with how they look. In fact, I may start attaching them to all of my quilts this way, not just the small ones.

We'll be seeing my MIL this weekend when we're out of town for Zach's basketball games, so I'll get to deliver the placemats to her. I hope she likes them as much as I do!

Our Primary Message

Devotion for the Week...

When Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after the resurrection, He reassured them that everything that had happened to Him was according to the Father's plan as revealed in Scripture. "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45). What a relief that must have been for them! Not only was Jesus there with them, but everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. You can almost feel the collective relief.

Then Jesus continued with this: "It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ (v. 47).

This should be our primary message: There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.

We can make teaching others about God complicated, full of rules and regulations, or we can simply teach them that there is forgiveness of sins available to anyone and everyone who repents.

It may not be the easiest conversation starter, especially if we don't know the other person well, but if we allow God to lead us, there will be moments when we're able to share this simple and profound truth with people who need to hear it. And, of course, everyone needs to hear it.