If you read my intro posts for the year, you know that one of my themes is Instrument and that refers not only to our familial undertaking of becoming a more musical household, but also to the prayer that inspired me to have instrument as my word of the year– Lord, Make me an Instrument of your Peace.

Back in high school, I was in honor choir and something that was said in that class a lot is a phrase that has stuck with me and informed a lot of my life ever since: you can’t harmonize alone. When you are only using your body to make music (as opposed to playing an instrument with multiple keys or strings available to be played at once like a piano or banjo) you physically can’t harmonize alone. That’s one of the thing that makes choral singing or even something as simple as a duet so amazing. Even when you do introduce instruments that can play several notes at once, there are so many more possibilities when you can bring in more musicians, when you have a whole orchestra to play with.  You can make beautiful music alone. But there are certain sounds you can ONLY make together. A symphony needs cooperation.

So continuing my original metaphor, I asked God to make me an instrument of peace this year, and He in turn seemed to invite me into a symphony… and now I’m inviting you to join me.

I have been asked to say yes to something that really scares me, to a goal so big that it is the first one in a while that I truly doubt I can make happen, that really feels like it could be a failure. Yet this invitation is one that I felt absolutely called to say yes to, and that I knew I would regret if I let fear dictate my answer instead of the resounding yes that was put in my very nervous heart. This big scary goal has two parts: 1. I am going to train to run the New York Marathon this year. 2. I am going to do it on behalf of Team World Vision to get child sponsorships and change the lives of people I will never meet but who are just as worthy of lives filled with clean water, nutrition, healthcare services, education, and the opportunity to live up to their God given potential as we are. I can’t make this happen alone. I need your help.

Here are three things you can do to help me bring a little more peace, harmony, and joy to the world during what I know has already been a challenging year for so many.

1. Talk with me about sponsoring a child. World Vision does an amazing job of making your monthly donations go farther with other sponsored children in a community than they could alone. (I’ll be honest, if I know you and see or talk to you in the next six months, you are going to hear about this at some point anyway… but it would make me do a happy dance if you beat me to the punch!)
2. Pray for me! If you are religious, please pray with me for sponsors for these kids in need and also for my body to survive all the training mileage and to hold up through race day! If you aren’t the praying type, I’ll take words of affirmation or you can…
3. Help me reach more people! You can share this blog post or my social media posts, you can talk with your church or running group about connecting with me to host a Chosen sponsorship party (where the children in need get to choose their sponsors instead of the other way around!)

I want to leave you with a quote from World Vision’s mission statement and one of my favorite quotes that I have shared in the past and will absolutely share again that really sums up why I feel called to run this race for this cause: