A Ride To Remember...

When it comes to life, we are offered a plethora of opportunities! Everything around us calls for our time and energy, beckons for our commitment; hails for our money.

Sometimes it is hard to know when to say "no."
Sometimes it is even harder to know when to say "yes."

I struggle with feeling overwhelmed, especially when life is already full and there is always more need. I often deal with this by shutting down and shutting out. If there is too much on the to-do list, and not a pencil-marked game plan, I allow myself to postpone, procrastinate, get stalled on email, facebook or pintrest :)!!

OR. A new challenge beckons and in great excitement, I say YES, only to wish I hadn't once the enthusiasm fades and I'm slugging through commitments, drained of life and energy, thinking, what was I thinking!????

So, when my friend Ruth contacted me about this opportunity, I wondered .... yes? But why?

Of course it is good to raise funds. I will connect with a few people and see if they will be willing to share a few shillings, and as the collection grows we will offer it to the fine folks at the Crisis Pregnancy Centre (Winnipeg) to do good things; to minister to people in need, to walk alongside those in grief.

It is good to let others know. When I send out my emails, I am fully aware that there are folks on the list  that do not share the same values that I do. Facebook friends? The same. This is a challenge to myself to let what is in my heart shine, whether or not others agree.

It is a good example for my family. From time to time we talk about these issues. When life gets hard and different from what we know. As I teach my children, the LORD teaches me.

It is good to remember. Last year I thought of those who had no home to call their own.
Or a house that lacked the love and nurture and support and didn't feel like a home.

This year I will think of those who have yet to hear their name spoken in Love.
Perhaps it is an unborn child whose presence is a challenge.
Perhaps it is a mom, who has been a daughter unloved, or a friend wounded.
Perhaps it is a father, confused, scared, angry, sad.

Do they know they are loved? 
Through their CPC connections, I hope that they will hear their name spoken not with harsh anger, shame, disdain or condemnation, but perhaps for the first time, spoken with kindness, gentleness, respect. Love.

And that is why I ride.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:15-16