Georgia is excited to introduce you to her new friend, Frankie🐾💝
Happy 75th Birthday, Mom!
🎉🥳Happy 75th Birthday to my loving Mom who spreads joy and kindness wherever she goes🎉🥳
I love these pictures because they capture who she is, someone who shows up for her people, not just cheering us on from the sidelines, but everyday in life. I am forever grateful for her loving heart, joyful presence, and kind soul💝
A Prayer for Our Ears
💕A prayer for our ears💕
Incline our ears to wisdom and our hearts to understanding - Proverbs 2:2
From my own thoughts to things I watch or listen to, what goes in my ears - and your ears - matters. Often, what we hear is information which can be valuable, but it doesn’t necessarily lead us to make the wisest decisions.
Wisdom, on the other hand, will lead us well.
I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we incline our ears to wisdom by inviting God in to help us filter information coming our way. May we gain insight and understanding, so that we have the wisdom to make choices that are aligned with God’s love and be an extension of his love to others through our words and actions.
With love and hope,
Shawn
The Quiet Beauty Beside Us
This morning on my walk, I saw two red-tailed hawks on a tree. They are so beautiful. They flew along the trail in the direction I was heading, and I saw them perch themselves on top of a few trees. It was lovely to watch them.
I ended up seeing someone else on the trail and showed the hawks to her— not that she was interested. (Those who know me well know I don’t always have a filter.)
Thankfully, she appreciated me pointing them out, and she said something that struck me. I don’t remember her exact words, but they were something to the effect of, “It’s amazing what you can see when your eyes are open to it.”
I share this with you today to invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May our eyes be open to seeing the beauty around us. And sometimes it’s the noise that grabs our attention, but today, instead of focusing on the loudness, let’s seek the quiet beauty that’s right beside us, like those two red-tailed hawks.
With love and hope,
Shawn
I got to be on Great Day Connecticut to promote the marathon!
Today I had the wonderful opportunity to go on @greatdayconnecticut with @karasundlun and @nicolenalepatv! I was able to share my cancer story and our @bravelikegabe Berlin marathon team’s mission to raise awareness and funds for rare cancer research. We are #runningonhope to carry on Gabe’s legacy…
“I would love to live in a world where rare cancer patients have more treatment options and ultimately, cures. And if I can’t live in that world, I want to help it become a possibility for future patients.“
To watch the full segment, visit the link in my bio.
I would greatly appreciate your support to help us fund rare cancer research and find effective treatments and cures for people like my teammate Jen, and our ACC family.
To donate, visit the link in my bio. Every dollar makes a difference and we appreciate whatever you can do.
With gratitude and hope,
Shawn
A Beautiful View
A beautiful view💝
A Prayer for Our Eyes
💕A prayer for our eyes💕
Here are the two verses that I lean into that I blended into the prayer in the video…
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. - Hebrews 12:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. - Colossians 3:2
What we focus our eyes on can become the focus of our thoughts. So let’s choose to…
pause. breathe. pray.
And focus our eyes on Jesus to help our minds be fixed on him too. When we do this, it doesn’t mean the circumstances have changed, it does give us though a renewed lens to view our circumstances through.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Letting Go and Trusting God
Happy August!…or is it? As we turn the page to this new month, reality is setting in. Kate heads back to school mid-month, and Gavin heads to college at the end of the month.
So what do I do with the awareness that the time we have together with all of us at home is shifting soon?
Be present.
Be present with God.
Be present with each of them.
Be present with the truth of change.
Enjoy their presence, their laughs, their interactions with one another.
Enjoy the moments at the table, playing cards, or chilling in the family room together.
Enjoy the moments when people are coming and going, and even those moments I have alone.
May I be present, soaking up the moments and also…
Let them go.
Palms up.
Entrust them into God’s care, more than my own.
Let them be.
Watch and witness them in this time.
Let them experience this as they need to.
And allow myself to process it all as I need to.
This is a happy month, but it will have sad moments too, and that is okay.
I share this today as I know I am not the only one sending kids off to school soon. If you are too, I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we be present with God so He can help us be present with our loved ones. May we give thanks for what was, for what is, and for what’s to come. Letting go, and trusting God has our kids, wherever they go.
In fact, He always has.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Prayer for the Mind
Another run done🙌 I thought I’d let you in on something I do at the start of every run…I pray over my mind, body, and soul.
Years ago when I was in a Bible study, I saw clearly when I was reading Psalm 119 how in scripture there is wisdom about the greater purpose of our minds and bodies. As a previous health and PE teacher, and someone who loves the mind, body, and soul connection, seeing these verses revealed to me a new - and greater purpose - for my mind, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, and so on. Yet it’s not just in that Psalm. Throughout the Bible, there is wisdom about the greater purpose of our minds, bodies, and souls.
So I figured I’d start sharing some of the scriptures I pray as they aren’t just relevant for running, they are relevant to pray over ourselves and others anytime, any day.
I’ll start with a couple about the mind today.
Every run my mind is messy, resisting the process. One of the first verses I pray is asking God to:
“take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” - 2 Corinthians 10:5
I pray for God to weed out all the thoughts that are holding me back and then pray for a “renewal of my mind, by the power of the Holy Spirit” - Romans 12:2
I share these with you today in case your mind gets messy like mine. I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
Rather than ruminating on the other thoughts that aren’t serving us, let’s take time to pray these verses. And may we trust, in time, there will be a renewal within our minds.
With love and hope,
Shawn
The Threshold
I’ve been reading a book, Braving the Thin Places. In it, the Irish author shares, “the threshold or liminal places take us from one place to another, in our surroundings but also inside of ourselves. Just as the half-doors of Ireland can open in and out at the same time, our eyes navigate this inside-outside dynamic for our lives.”
After reading that, I saw this view out the door while we were on the Blasket Islands.
It made me reflect on the quote and the threshold I am standing at in life with Kate and Gavin heading off to college soon.
Like the view from the doorway, what is in the distance is unknown.
And as I stand at this threshold of change in my life, I know it will be a process to embrace our new normal at home. Yet I am reminded that I do not stand here alone.
God is with me on either side.
He goes before us and knows the unknowns.
There is comfort in that truth for me, and I pray there is comfort in that truth for you too.
I share this with you today not knowing the threshold or liminal place you are standing in. I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we remember that no matter where we stand, or what we are stepping into, we are never alone. God is with us, and there are people he has placed beside us as supports in this time. May we find comfort in that truth and trust that no matter what lies ahead, He will guide us and help us stand in solid ground on the other side of this threshold, in time.
With love and hope,
Shawn