EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

 

Fabulous 50. A handful of years ago,  I experienced this milestone.

Each year I pick something, not a New Year’s resolutions but rather just a something — like not wearing yoga pants in public — just a silly little personal challenge.

When I turned 50 I picked three food things I wanted to use to stretch myself; expand my palate. The three were to like Thousand Island salad dressing (it would just make ordering smoother as Greggy and I often split a salad), mushrooms, (I want to like them; my parents hunted morel mushrooms when I was a little girl, so I have happy memories of this) and coffee. I’ve been a tea drinker like my mother. Then at 40 she started drinking coffee; I would be a decade behind but would soon join the ranks of coffee consumers. I do love the smell, I just needed to appreciate the flavor. I also had the hurdle of having been a person who served thousands of cups to others at Bud’s Café in Bricelyn and thus had grown tired of the beautiful brown liquid. I tried several times; each year for five years.

Then when the 55th birthday came along I thought, “OK, if you’re going to do this, now is the time!”

Today, I poured myself the daily cup of aromatic brown fluid from my Keurig, added coconut sugar and then a flavored creamer — OK, so I am taking baby steps!

Yearly I stick to the thing I have chosen with conviction, (as silly as it may seem to others) they become a value for my year; a friend once named it Robin’s Rule. This made me think recently as I was contemplating my 2020 item.

I know God’s values; they are very clear in his instruction manual, the Bible. What if I adhered as much time and attention to contemplating, implementing and firmly following his rules as much as my own desires? I feel I do my best, but my challenge this year is going to be who rules my rules? Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 instructs us:

• You shall have no other gods before me.

• You shall make no idols.

• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

• Keep the Sabbath day holy.

• Honor your father and your mother.

• You shall not murder.

• You shall not commit adultery.

• You shall not steal.

• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

• You shall not covet.

Won’t you join me in this year’s challenge?

Robin (Beckman) Gudal, intentional in life, is a wife, momma, nana, friend, and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.