Riding Bikes, Hanging Out With Friends & Communing With God

We had a wonderful but busy weekend. We went to Abilene to see Moonlight & Magnolias on Friday night and had dinner Friday night and lunch on Saturday with Jeremy. We came home on Saturday, went to church on Sunday and then headed out Sunday afternoon on a bike trip with some friends to Longview and on to Jefferson on Monday. We had a great time!!

The weather was great and there is nothing better than riding, except riding with friends! We rode 360 miles this weekend! We had the best time. You would have thought we were all in high school the way we were laughing and carrying on in the lobby of the hotel; until 2:00 a.m. I might add. (The next day I didn't feel like I was in high school! I felt like the 40 something woman I am on only 5 hours of sleep!)

We stayed up just talking, playing spades and having some of the most wonderful pie I have ever eaten. If you ever head to Longview, go to "The Butcher Shop" and have some chocolate pie! You won't be sorry!!

There is nothing like riding a bike through the back roads of East Texas to make you really stop and appreciate God. When you are on your bike with the wind blowing all around you and driving through some of the most wonderful trees, you can't help but think of God and all He created. There is nothing like it in the world. It really gave me time to reflect on God and the priorities in my life.

I've been thinking about priorities for a while now. Mine have seemed to be way off lately, or maybe not so off. But I do think it's a time for refocusing. The priorities of the last 22 years have been my kids. Loving them, raising them and attending all of the events they were in was what we did and pretty much who we were. While I loved that time dearly and will miss those times, I realize that God is calling me in other ways. I have really been reflecting a lot on how I spend my time now and becoming aware that God is calling me to something different in my life. I'm not sure where is He leading, but I know that I need to be aware of His calling and pay attention to opportunities He may put before me.

I know that God wants to use me to make some kind of impact. And it doesn't have to big. It reminds me of the impact of skipping rocks on water. When you skip rocks, sometimes they just skip lightly across the water making impacts every time they hit. You can see all the splashes in the water and see all the impacts they make. But sometimes when you try to skip a rock it just plops in the water. And while it only makes a plop and doesn't skip across gracefully, it still makes an impact. There are still little ripples in the water from where it dropped in.

I think sometimes we get too bogged down in trying to do something big. Trying to make huge graceful skips across the water. When sometimes just a big plop in the water still has its impact.

I'm not going to try and make huge skips across the water. Someday I may and then again I may never make that big of an impact. But I hope I can always make at least a little ripple in the water. A little ripple that spreads through the rest of the water and touches something or someone. I don't ever want to leave the water still. Even a little ripple can make a difference.

Blessings!