{"id":203,"date":"2014-04-24T14:23:59","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T14:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simplymeandjeans.wordpress.com\/?p=203"},"modified":"2014-04-24T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T14:23:59","slug":"partners-in-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/?p=203","title":{"rendered":"Partners In Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/a>

My partner in crime, in ministry, in CrossFit and in life.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today’s the first day this week that I haven’t been in pain. \u00a0Not from the horrible cold I have or the allergies that wreak havoc in Texas each spring. \u00a0I’m sure those aren’t helping, \u00a0but this is a CrossFit sore. \u00a0If you’ve ever tried CrossFit, \u00a0you know what I mean.<\/p>\n

Due to a wrist injury, I haven’t been going to the Box (CrossFit’s \u00a0gym) \u00a0but I’ve continued to lift and run; so, when my daughter decided to put on a competition for a class project I figured I was still in good enough shape to give it a try. She had a ton of help from some amazing people at our Box and they all decided to make this a partner competition. \u00a0My husband is really enjoying the whole competitive side of CrossFit but I really hate it. \u00a0I don’t want to mislead you. \u00a0I am competitive. \u00a0Too much so sometimes. \u00a0But it’s usually in my own brain. \u00a0Actually participating in a competition that is judged makes me really nervous and uncomfortable but Steve has been asking me to do one for a while and this seemed like a good opportunity. \u00a0So we signed up.<\/p>\n

Turns out, \u00a0doing three WODS in one day isn’t the smartest thing to do when you haven’t even been doing one a day. By the way, \u00a0WOD is another CrossFit word for “Workout of the Day”. \u00a0(Why can’t they just use regular words?) \u00a0Anyway, \u00a0it was brutal!! We had a great time supporting our daughter, \u00a0raising money for a good cause, hanging out with friends and challenging our bodies to do more than we thought they could; but, (in case you didn’t hear me the first time) \u00a0IT WAS BRUTAL!<\/p>\n

As I looked through the pictures of the day, one in particular caught my eye. \u00a0Our precious friends, Jessica and Levi, were doing a partner dead lift and \u00a0their faces \u00a0stopped me in my tracks. I just stared at the picture for a minute or two and\u00a0this thought hit me.<\/p>\n

“Life can be BRUTAL! But when you partner with someone else, \u00a0the pain and the burden is easier to carry.”<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s because I know their story and that this past year has been pretty brutal for them. \u00a0Maybe it’s because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about spiritual warfare and fighting hard for people I love that are being pummeled by life. \u00a0I don’t know what it was, \u00a0but I knew that the intensity in their faces needed to be the type of intensity that I have when I’m walking through difficulties of life – whether they are my own difficulties or\u00a0those someone else is having to carry. \u00a0We’re created for community and we need one another. \u00a0That’s one of the best parts about CrossFit and that truth was physically expressed on Saturday as we lifted and ran and pushed one another through some tough workouts.<\/p>\n

Friends are a blessing and a necessity in life, but\u00a0this thought is more deeply felt in marriage.\u00a0\u00a0 You can’t be married any length of time and not have struggles and you can’t stay married if you aren’t fighting for the same thing. \u00a0 We were doing \u00a0some premarital counseling the other day when Steve told the couple that we \u00a0have had 17 happy years of marriage. \u00a0The other 8 were, what we affectionately call, the years from hell.\u00a0\u00a0It’s true. \u00a0They were hell. \u00a0But on this side of that hell is a marriage that I wouldn’t trade for the world. \u00a0We wouldn’t have made it if, at any given time, one of us hadn’t had this kind of intensity to fight for our marriage. \u00a0I don’t know that we ever had it at the same time but God is good to have breathed that determination into one of us at each difficult point in life. \u00a0We took turns I guess. \u00a0We partnered in pain like we partnered in this competition. \u00a0When one was broken and had nothing to give, \u00a0the other picked up the charge and kept going….and I’m grateful.<\/p>\n

No one teaches young people about determination and perseverance in the face of adversity anymore. \u00a0When things get tough, our society has taught them to cut their losses and run. \u00a0We do it in relationships, in fitness, in nutrition, in work, in school – \u00a0you name it. It’s as if we think we’re to good for anything that causes \u00a0sacrifice, pain or struggle. The reality is that we don’t become our best until we learn to sacrifice for something, endure pain and struggle for something better than what we already have. \u00a0 I just want to shake\u00a0people\u00a0until they understand that anything worth having doesn’t come easy. \u00a0 It’s worth the fight. \u00a0It really is.<\/p>\n

I set out to\"jess<\/a> write a post about CrossFit for the fitness section of this blog. \u00a0Looks like things always go back to faith. \u00a0It usually does. \u00a0But I can tell you this. \u00a0You need\u00a0to train your body. \u00a0Do something. \u00a0Start moving. \u00a0Get stronger. \u00a0Don’t let inactivity still your joy in living. \u00a0It’s a struggle and it’s brutal sometimes, but it’s worth it on this side of what may feel like hell. \u00a0Get your game face on. \u00a0Be intentional and don’t give up. \u00a0But as you do… in the middle of a long run when you want to quit….or when your muscles just can’t take it anymore….or after you puke \u00a0but still have more to do….think about your relationships. \u00a0Your marriage. Your friendships. Your relationship with God. \u00a0Think about what could be. \u00a0The freedom. \u00a0The love. \u00a0The intimacy. \u00a0The joy. \u00a0And throw everything you have\u00a0into fighting for \u00a0it. \u00a0It’s worth it. \u00a0It really is.<\/p>\n

(If you want a hilarious description of our competition, \u00a0read Jessica’s blog at SmallTownPaleo.blogspot.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s the first day this week that I haven’t been in pain. \u00a0Not from the horrible cold I have or the allergies that wreak havoc in Texas each spring. \u00a0I’m sure those aren’t helping, \u00a0but this is a CrossFit sore. \u00a0If you’ve ever tried CrossFit, \u00a0you know what I mean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,61,64,72,118,208,260,347,414,528,539,627],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-ability","tag-brutal","tag-burdens","tag-challenge","tag-crossfit","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-marriage","tag-partners","tag-sore","tag-stamina","tag-wod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenlawson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}