• It’s November. No one should attempt anything crazy in November or December. Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and we will be hosting my husband’s side of the family for the big day. Not only that, but there are only eight Fridays until Christmas (go ahead and start hyperventilation now).

The post Strengthen Your Writing Muscles with NaNoWriMo appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

I got home from the gym the other day, and I felt great. Well, I didn’t feel great physically. It took me an hour to stop sweating enough so I could take a shower.

But mentally? I felt great!

Why?

Because that workout was the kind of workout I wanted to skip. 

Because burpees.

Burpees are my nemesis.

This workout had 60 of them. With 60 wallballs thrown in for good measure. 

The only silver lining was the 13 minute time cap. A guarantee that the misery would end. When I walked in, I honestly didn’t expect to finish. But I did. With time to spare.

So when I got home and my husband asked me how it went my response was, “Good! I finished!”

I felt pretty good about that all day. And then I messed up.

I don’t know why I did it, but I looked at the whiteboard. The whiteboard is where everyone’s results are posted. When I pulled it up on my phone, I realized that some of my friends had not only completed the workout in significantly less time than I had, a whole bunch of them had done a much harder version!

My result didn’t seem so good anymore. In fact, it stunk. It was ridiculous. I’ve been doing CrossFit for a year and a half and I still struggle with burpees. I bet the coaches see me coming and think, “We don’t know why she’s still so bad at this.” 

Thankfully, this crazy train of thought didn’t last long, because as I was scrolling through the results, I saw where one friend had made this note on her time. “I showed up.”

Indeed.

The whiteboard isn’t intended to make anyone feel bad. It’s a record of your results, not so you can compare with everyone else but so you can compare yourself with yourself.  So you can see YOUR progress on YOUR journey. Of course there’s room for some friendly competition, and that’s fine and healthy. But ultimately, when I walk into the gym, the only person I’m in competition with is myself.

Despite my ranking when compared to everyone else, I had left it all in the gym that morning. I went hard. I pushed myself. I had nothing to be ashamed of because I did the best workout I could do. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I do this in other areas of my life. Maybe you do to?

• We are pretty happy with the exercise we got this week until we see *that* mom at the pool. You know the one? Yeah, you do. We eye her from behind our sunglasses and determine to drink more water, eat less chocolate, and workout EVERY DAY.

• We are thrilled with the one baby carrot our picky eaters consumed with supper until we show up for lunch relief and see the kid eating an arugula salad with beets. Beets? Suddenly, our kids are the least healthy on the planet and they will be stunted for life if we don’t expand their culinary horizons. 

• We had a great time on vacation until we open Facebook and see the family of five on a plane to some tropical location. We fight off the jealousy by assuming that they must be in debt up to their eyeballs to be able to afford that and at least we are better stewards of our money.

• We are proud of our kids’ A/B honor roll until we go to awards day and watch that one kid walk across the stage to receive every.single.award and then, because she’s so awesome, she gets one they had to make up just for her. 

• We think we married a pretty good guy until we find out our neighbor’s husband comes home every day by five. Or he just got another promotion. Or he brings her flowers every week.

I’m not saying all comparison is a bad thing. I love to read blogs on healthy eating, parenting, education, and exercise. I’m always interested in how other people do things because I might discover a new way to approach something that we struggle with in our home.

The problem comes when we start comparing what someone else has (the perfect body, the perfect kid, the perfect home, the perfect job, the perfect spouse) without keeping a few key things in mind.

First, we need to remember that what we see as “perfect” might not seem so perfect if we knew all the details. But even if it is. Even if that woman you think has it ALL together really does, we must remember this:

It’s not a competition.

Who knows? That kid who won all the awards? That may be the very kid who is going to cure ALS. Her path will be hard. She will struggle. But she’s brilliant and talented and God has an extraordinary purpose for her.  

You don’t have to try to turn your kids into her because you can rest in the certainty that God’s purpose for your child may not be as flashy, but for the Kingdom, that doesn’t mean it is any less valuable.

One of my favorite verses is Colossians 4:17. As Paul is wrapping up his epistle he has this to say, “And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”

Do you see it? Do you see the freedom here?

Take heed to the ministry which YOU have received. Do that.

Your story will not read like anyone else’s. It’s uniquely yours.

That competition you think you’re in? It’s not with anyone else. It’s not even a competition.

It’s a calling.

Your calling.

All you need to do is that.

Filter everything through that.

When God leads you to eat healthier or watch less TV or stick to a budget or write a book, do it because HE IS CALLING YOU TO. Not for ANY OTHER REASON. Trust me, He’s going to call you to enough without you adding a whole bunch of other stuff to the list.

Pursue YOUR ministry with everything you have and encourage others as they pursue theirs.

Goodness knows the whiteboards in life are everywhere but we can train our mind to see them, not as a record of a competition, but as proof that we are showing up for the ministry we’ve been called to.

So friends, this week my prayer for you and for myself is that we will take heed to the ministry which we have received in the Lord, that we fulfill it. 

Grace and peace,

Lynn

The post Don’t Let the Whiteboard Get You Down appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

• My first week, I fell off a box and messed up my wrist. I came in last.
• For the first month, if the WOD (workout of the day) included burpees, my coach automatically cut the number in half for me. I still came in last.
• As new people joined our box, I watched as they went from not having a clue to killing the WODs. All while I continued to come in last.
• Particularly frustrating were the women, the pregnant and/or brand new moms with 6-week-old babies at home, who lifted more, ran faster, jumped higher, and finished way before me. The girl who finishes last.

The post Coming In Last appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

I joined Five Forks CrossFit in November.
I know. I’m surprised, too.

My husband’s been doing CrossFit for years, but when a new box (that’s what a CrossFit facility is called) opened a few miles away, he finally convinced me to give it a try.
I love it.

Well, except for the 8-20 minutes of the WOD (workout of the day). During the WOD, I hate it with every twitching muscle fiber that is begging me for mercy.

But other than that, I love it and I keep going back. All through our renovation, even one day in the snow, I’ve dragged myself out of bed well before dawn, pulled on my compression pants and my dry-wick shirt, laced up my CrossFit nano 3.0 shoes, and walked through those doors.

My sweat has dripped on the mats, my shins have the scrapes, my collarbones have the bruises, and my hands have the callouses that come from Olympic lifts, and my body has changed enough that people have noticed.

So why is it that every time I pull on my Five Forks CrossFit hoodie, I have to remind myself of all of that? I have to talk myself into putting it on and wearing it out the door?

Because there’s a part of me—the deepest, most insecure part of me—that wonders if I have any business portraying myself as a CrossFitter, because I don’t look like a “CrossFit Woman.”

Have you seen these images on Pinterest or your Facebook feed? The pictures are almost always of women in sports bras and boy shorts, with knee socks and chalk on their thighs. They’re doing pull-ups and one-armed handstands and no one can question that they are physically elite.

I just can’t compete with that.

I look like a woman who has three children and a serious sweet tooth. I can’t do a pull-up or a handstand, much less with one arm. And I try to keep as much of my skin covered as possible, because no one wants to see me in boy shorts.

With that said, there is another part of me that knows that I’m just as much a CrossFit Woman as those elite athletes are. Not because I can do what they can, but because I’m in the game. I’m learning. I’m using muscles I never knew I had and I’m not the same woman I was four months ago.

So I remind myself of that, put on my hoodie, and walk out the door. And when someone says, “You do CrossFit?” I look look them straight in the eye and say, “Yes! And I love it!”

I’m wondering if you feel the same way about your Christian walk? I know I do.

Sometimes I’m terrified to speak truth into a situation. I feel sick to my stomach in the first few hours after I post a blog. And when I’m with friends, sometimes I know I should say, “Let’s stop talking about it and start praying about it,” but I rarely do.

Why?

Because I don’t look like an elite Christian Woman. Have you heard of these women? They always do the right thing. They never yell at their kids, their husband, or dog. They don’t cuss when they burn dinner. They know exactly how to respond to every parenting dilemma or family crisis.

I just can’t compete with that.

I’m a woman who has a temper. Who likes things done the “right” way—by my definition of “right” thank you very much. I fight my pride, my fear, and my tongue.
EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR.

Satan loves to whisper in my ear that I have no business claiming I love Jesus, especially after that fiasco of a morning we just had.
But the Holy Spirit says different.

He reminds me that while I have a long way to go, I’m in the game. I’ve been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. My sins are forgiven. By His grace, I’m not the same woman I was ten years ago, or even ten months ago. I’m learning, changing, becoming more and more like Him every day.

I know when I wear my FFC hoodie, there may be a few people who look at me and think, “There’s no way that chubby thing does CrossFit,” but what I’ve discovered is that most of the time, it opens a door. Someone who might be nervous about trying it looks at me and thinks, “If Lynn can do it maybe I can, too.”

My FFC Hoodie

Maybe that’s all the Holy Spirit is asking of us.

Just to put it out there. Not because we are elite. Not because we’ve achieved perfection.
Precisely the opposite.

If God can speak to us and through us when we are such a mess, then maybe He can do that for them, too.

I don’t know what your “hoodie” is. Maybe it’s telling a co-worker what God showed you this week or sharing a book you’re reading with that mom who sits beside you at gymnastics. Maybe it’s as “simple” as getting out of your house and meeting your neighbors, asking God for the opportunity to be a light in your cul-de-sac. Whatever it is, God wants you to put it on now.

Be brave enough to let His light shine, and when someone says, “So, you’re a Christian?” you can look them in the eye and say, “Yes! I love Jesus! He’s changing my life.”

Satan just can’t compete with that.






TWEETABLES:


What happens when a chubby, Jesus-loving girl joins CrossFit. (Click to Tweet)


What’s your hoodie? (Click to Tweet)

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