Throw Higher

I had an awakening the other day when Joseph and I took Eldon to the park. After pushing him on the swing and down the slide, we set him on the grass so we could play catch. For some unfathomable reason, I really like playing catch. I'm not very good at it, and I don't like playing baseball as much as I like playing catch, but I do enjoy just throwing a ball back and forth. Anyway...

We were tossing the ball a rather short distance, one I could usually get the ball to Joseph over. Then he moved back a bit. Really, not much farther, but I couldn't quite seem to get the ball to him. I tried, but it was still bouncing before he would catch it. And then he said, "Throw higher." It was such a simple piece of advice, but one that had never once occurred to me.

I was trying to throw harder, but it didn't work for me. Once I started aiming higher, I could throw the ball farther.

How often is life like that? That I'm trying to do something and failing--not because I'm not trying hard enough, but because I'm not aiming high enough?

Dirty Dashing Miracle

Karma, who lives in Missouri, flew out to Utah to run in The Dirty Dash, a 10K race, with Riah. Somehow her visit morphed into our whole family--Mom & Papa, Me, Karma, and Logan, plus the babies, Eldon and Jade--visiting Riah. Riah & Eric live in a one-bedroom apartment. Let me tell you; it was crowded!

Anyway, on the Thursday before the Saturday race, Karma and Riah talked me into running with them. I hadn't brought my running shoes (for which I was later grateful), so we went to DI and I bought a used pair, and I bought a ticket from someone who had preregistered for the race but was unable to run.

Then on Friday I got sick. It was a miserable headcold. And I was definitely regretting my decision to run. I asked Papa to give me a blessing. The blessing promised me that I would be able to meet my goal the next day and to have fun.

I believe in miracles. And in the power of the Priesthood. It truly is the power of God. The next morning I had a slightly runny nose, but I felt pretty good. And I ran in the race.



Now, running is not my cup of tea. Or hot chocolate, since tea is taboo. :) My motto is that exercise should be disguised as something fun, such as hiking. And my sisters had been training for this race, and I had not. But I managed to meet my goal (to finish) and I had fun doing it. It was an obstacle course race on a mountainside that was quite difficult for me. There were lots of ups and downs, and it seemed like most of the ups were at the beginning, designed, I suppose, to wipe me out before I was even really started. But my sisters encouraged me and pushed and pulled me up the hills (sometimes literally), and I was able to finish the race, though I walked much of it.



Then my headcold came back. As Riah pointed out, the blessing promised nothing beyond the day of the race. But for that morning, God blessed me with a reprieve from my cold and helped me to accomplish finishing a 10K.