September Challenge: Week Two Update

I turned the page from August to September with the idea of a September challenge.

I had been reminded of how effective a monthly challenge can be because of the relatively short time span. I also remember how significant September had become for me - almost thinking of it as my new year.

So I decided to challenge myself to bump up my daily walking - from my usual mile/day - to add another half-mile or maybe even more.

I am pleased to discover that I am doing well with that challenge - having walked 18 miles so far.

So yes, it’s working… 

And I am encouraged.

...

Somewhere in those transitional hours from August to September I also decided to set a writing challenge to augment my walking challenge.  

I had already been seeing my writing year as beginning in September - a time to rebuild my regular writing habits and to ponder my writing strategy for the coming months.

I chose as my main challenge to make sure that I am writing at least 300 words/day - for a minimum of 5 days/week or 20 days for the month.  So far I have succeeded every day of the first 11 days.

Early in the month I also pondered my wish of turning my monthly blogging habit into a weekly one. I decided to give it a try.  Sadly, I had begun to think I might not succeed with that one this week, but I guess I am. Right here. Right now. Taking that next step I am.

So there we go.

Small steps

Progress

Gratification

Writing Challenge

 September feels like a new beginning for me.

A fresh start.

Back to normal.

I have loved that September feeling for most of my life.

…

Since I started thinking of myself as a writer, it was probably natural that autumn would become significant in my annual writing cycle.

• In 2010 I started this blog and have posted something here pretty much every month in the years since.
• That was also the year that I began participating in NaNoWriMo - and have completed that project 17 times. 
• I soon realized that I might want to start thinking about my November writing project as early as September.
• I have built some excellent writing habits through these 17 years.

So here we are - and here I am.

It is September and time to start my writing year.

Time to get back in gear.

To rebuild my writing habit.

To stretch those writing muscles.

I hereby declare my September writing plan.

This month…

• I will pay attention to that habit of writing at least 300 words/day.  
• I also wish to bump up my posting frequency here - aiming for weekly posts.  I am putting that back into my reminder calendar at this very moment.

And so, my writing friends, do you have a September writing plan?

Could you use a fresh start?

My only advice is to keep it simple and do-able.

Happy September new year!

September Fitness Challenge

50 miles during August!!! * 

When my Facebook Memories remind me that I used to walk 3 miles a day I can be tempted to feel badly that I do only one mile/day lately.  

On the other hand I can choose to celebrate the fact that I AM walking at least a mile most days. 

I mostly choose to celebrate.

…

Recently I saw Leo Babauta of Zen Habits recommending a month-long fitness challenge.  He says such a challenge can be helpful for a couple reasons:

1. Because I am committed to something.  (Now there’s a novel idea.)
2. Because it is for a short time.   (A short time sounds good. Am I right?)

That’s when I went to my calendar to see how many miles I had done so far this month.

That’s also when I realized that I could maybe make it to 50 miles yet in August.

Because I had already been pushing a bit more than usual…

So I decided to start there - and I made it!

Yay!

…

So, yes, I will do a fitness challenge for September but I’m still deciding about my target numbers.  I know they must be doable - so I think I’ll start with 30 miles as my minimum commitment and then 40 or more will be bonus.  

…

* Disclaimer:

This is where I pause to clarify that not all of those 50 August miles were walking, but about a dozen of them were biking.

For September I think I will start by using only walking miles and keep the biking separate…

Keep it simple; right?

…

ALL Lives Matter

Jesus was pretty clear about the importance of “loving my neighbor as myself.” 

One day, an “expert in the law” had a follow-up question for him: “And who is my neighbor?”  (Luke says the guy wanted to justify himself.)   [Luke 10:29, NIV]

If I want to obey Jesus’ commands, I do need to understand who is my neighbor. Therefore I will pay attention to his answer - which comes in the form of a story.

’Tis a familiar story to those of us who grew up inside the church walls - the one about the man “going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.”

Jesus mentions that a priest and a Levite, both religious leaders, “passed by on the other side” - evidently not wanting to contaminate themselves by getting involved in a messy situation.  

Then a Samaritan came along, took pity on the guy, and stopped to help him.

Not just a brief stop to offer “thoughts and prayers.” 

Rather he interrupted his own travel plans.

He inconvenienced himself. 

He cleaned the guy up and did what he could for him.

Then he put the guy on his own donkey and transported him to an inn.

It is an inspiring story as the Samaritan leaves extra money with the innkeeper and promises to come back and pay whatever else might be needed. 

As he finished the telling, Jesus had a question for the questioner: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”    - [Luke 10, NIV]

...

In Sunday School we learned that Samaritans were seen as second-class citizens. Jews regarded them as foreigners and treated them with hostility.  For Jesus to have chosen a Samaritan as the hero of this story seems pretty significant.

I could almost imagine a few sweet Jewish grandmothers who had begun to realize how badly Samaritans were treated. Maybe they came over to Jesus and and tearfully told him that SAMARITAN LIVES MATTER!

Maybe Jesus interrupted with a retort: “Of course, they do. ALL lives matter!”

No?

That’s not how the story went?

No. 

Jesus knew very well that Samaritans were mistreated.  

He was already doing something about it.

He had just elevated a Samaritan to hero status - quite possibly as an example for religious leaders.

He was being an advocate for people who didn’t seem to matter.

Let that be a lesson to me!

Multiple lessons even.

Obviously I need to respect those who are "the other”. 

Those who are different than me.

Those that don’t seem to matter in society.

They are my neighbors.

Like the hero in the story who had mercy, I am to do likewise.

I am to be their neighbor.

…

* Excerpted from my book Beyond These Walls: Book by Book.

Thankful Thursday: seedless oranges

Thankful, yes - for SO many things.

Just now while peeling my orange I suddenly found myself once again remembering the orange groves around Fillmore, California.

I remember the neighbor who gave me oranges from her tree.

And she let me pick some of them!

I remember learning about the netting the growers put on the trees to keep out the birds - to produce seedless oranges… 

I do not understand all the details about cross-pollination 

but I do love seedless oranges.

And I am once again so dang grateful for those months in that place.

For those years and those places that we were able to call home for a minute 

A season 

A month

What an extraordinary thing 

A great privilege

I continue to be astonished

And grateful