Day 2: Blown Off Course

The past two days have been our Fall break.  Yesterday, as a way to help Sarah get her run in for cross country, we biked from Victor to Driggs, about 6 miles.  It was a blustery day with dark clouds scudding across the sky.  Sarah started off running first and then one by one each of the children started up the bike path.  I was in the back with Emma. 

Emma took off like a shot.  Riding a bike on a paved path is so much easier than our bumpy dirt road.  She road ahead of me singing and shouting.  Now and then the wind would push her and she'd lean to the side to counter its effect.  Then a strong gust came up and it was too much for her.  It pushed her right off the path and down into the barrow pit.  It was a steep descent there and she went down screaming all the way.  I jumped off my bike as fast as I could and ran after her, hoping that she would stop and not shoot back up to the highway.  She stopped at the bottom and climbed of her bike crying and shaking.  "Let's get back on the path," I told her.  I picked up her bike, carried it back to the path and without a second thought she was off again.

Staying on the path

Sometimes I feel like my little Emma, out in a blustery wind, trying to get to my destination.  I know just where I'm headed and I'm determined to get there.  All too often though, the winds of my life begin to blow and without any warning I'm off the path.  The winds that blow me off course are not usually bad winds.  They are simply the tasks and distractions of my life.  It's the running of kids here and there to lessons and practices.  It's the feeding, cleaning and caring for bodies.  It's the maintaining of a home, relationships and commitments.  It's good books to read, websites to visit and phone calls to make.  It's just everyday living.

Getting blown off course doesn't mean I'm going someplace else.  It just means I have to pick myself up and get back on the path.  That is how I feel about the challenge to create a Christ centered home.  This is something that I think about often, something I try and try again with.  Sometimes I try things that don't work for my family.  Sometimes I just go with the flow and let the habits already in place do the work for me.  Right now I want to peddle harder, get a little closer and stay on the path a little more.