the goldilocks workout plan

This gorgeous Southern Ontario spring morning is warming up the soil and coaxing new life out of the chilled earth. As I cleared away the detritus of winter, I saw the green spears of tulips, tipped with red, emerging for the first time - I planted them last fall and have waited eagerly all winter to see them come up. I love tulips! And now they are three feet tall and topped with glorious red and white blooms. These ones are extra special: they are the new "Canada 150" Maple Leaf tulips bred in Holland for this year's sesquicentennial.

As I work in the garden I start a little conversation with my Vinedresser. It goes something like this:
Me: I love being in the garden with You. It's so peaceful out here. I want to learn to talk with you. To be able to tell You the deeper things in my heart. But I don't always know what to say.
The Vinedresser: That's ok - just go ahead. I'm listening ...
Me:  You know how much I want to have fruit. How much I want to DO something that will give back to you some return for spending so much love and care on me.
The Vinedresser: I know that. Be patient. You're doing fine! [Just then a freight train rumbles by on the far edge of the fields. I look up at it as the Vinedresser speaks into my heart...] But don't try to pull too heavy a load.
Me: [thinking ...] You know that's a difficult one for me. I always seem to get it wrong - take on too much, and run into trouble. [I think of the old story of the frog in the slowly-warming pot of water on the stove.] How shall I know when it's too heavy a load?
The Vinedresser: [smiling] If it feels good when you stop to take a rest, you'll know you have the right load.

I mull this over and it's clear to me right away just how much wisdom there is in that. It's like working out at the gym: Too much weight, or too many reps, and we get hurt or are stiff for days. If the load is too little, we don't even feel we need a rest: There's no real challenge, and we don't build strength or endurance. But when the load is just right, enough to give us a good workout, but not enough to break us down, we feel good - even exhilarated - tired and sweaty but invigorated.

Master Gardener, let me be like Goldilocks in finding the load that's "just right". Continue Your work building up in me the right sort of strength to do what I was created for, to fulfill Your purpose and bring You glory. Amen.

the camino - first century style

Imagine yourself in Bethany. It is summer, late 0020's of the First Century of this Common Era, and John is baptizing people and calling them to repentance, preparing the way for the Messiah. Imagine the scene and the conversation. Jesus, who has just been revealed as the Son of God during his baptism by John, begins to seek out those who will be his disciples - and the story goes like this (from the Gospel of John, chapters 1 & 2):

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galillee. He found Phillip.

Jesus: Follow me.

Phillip: Uh - what? Me? Where are we going? 

Jesus: There's a wedding in Cana and I want you to come along.

P: Cana! But that's 2 days' journey! We'll have to walk. And I have only just met you, Rabbi.

J: That's ok - we'll talk along the way. 

Can you imagine the long hours of walking with Jesus and his new band of disciples, talking, reflecting; stopping for a drink or a meal or to rest in the first bit of shade on the route in hours; finding a place to spend the night? Sounds very much like the renowned Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Now, in the 21st Century, I am on my own Camino with Jesus, my Rabbi, my Teacher, my Lord. He has chosen me as one of his disciples and he is teaching me how to be more like him as we travel together to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). As I follow him and we journey together, we talk along the way, stop for refreshment and rest in the shade side by side when the sun gets too hot in the early afternoon. I invite you to come along: he wants you too, on this journey of a lifetime. There's always room for another, and the conversation is like no other!