New Baby, New Country: Team USA?

World Cup is starting this week. I look forward to this every 4 years. The last 2 cups I was in Jordan and England. This year I'll be travelling between states. I'm a little sad because America just doesn't get into it the way EVERY other country does. My heart screams out to almost everyone around me...how can you not love this? every other country stops work/school/business to watch...how can you not love a sport that is played everywhere? this only comes around every 4 years, why are you not watching it and loving it? My screaming heart is in vain because I continue to look around and see apathy or even contempt for this incredible competition.
But that is exactly how i treated our training in Colorado. Who among you would love the chance to go to Colorado for 3 weeks...to live in a room with a view of the mountains, to be fed 3 good meals a day, to have a babysitter from 8:30 to 4:00 M-F, to meet friends with similar hearts, to be fed good truths from God, to rest, to study, and ultimately to learn more about our Father? Right? It's ridiculous to think that wouldn't be incredible. And yet my heart was apathetic and at times full of contempt for another "program" that was going to teach me something new. I was tired of travelling, particularly adding 2 extra flights and night in Minneapolis with a 2 1/2 month old--due to strong winds that prevented us arriving on time. I didn't want to learn. My heart was hard. Yet this week God has been answering my prayer and perhaps yours that my heart would soften.
It started with a day of learning to rest. That was the subject: rest/sabbath/play. I was tired from a baby that hadn't been sleeping b/c of gassiness and burpiness that increases at high altitudes. Rest and sabbath just sounded like another to-do. But I was praying for God to soften my heart. I went out in "nature" as requested in order to journal/pray/listen to God in nature. I went to my first bench: taken. I went to the 2nd bench: taken. I went to the third bench: taken and no view of the mountains. Forget this! I'm going for a run! I changed clothes and started down the road. But, I knew I needed to try to get something out of this "rest". I saw some miniature donkeys racing around in a pasture and noted the difference in the ones racing and the ones lazing around. A little farther on I noticed a beautiful horse standing, grazing in a pasture alongside a herd of cattle. The cattle were all lying in a heap together in the mud and manure. My thought was I hope I'm a horse and not a cow, if we are comparing ourselves to nature. I stared at the mountains as I ran and kept thinking...i know that mountains are supposed to be "mountain-top experiences". But honestly, I prefer the valleys, so that analogy doesn't work for me either, God. Fed up, I returned from my run. As I showered, I kept thinking of a verse that I thought would justify my heart attitude when we gathered together again to share our experience of God in rest/nature/sabbath. The verse is "There is now therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Ha, there is no condemnation for me...none of you can condemn me for my run that looked different from your resting/journalling...nor can you condemn me for not getting anything out of my restful run because I am in Christ Jesus. But, as I read on...I found "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Sprit is life and peace." Do you see what I was doing? I was "doing". I was trying to "do" rest/sabbath/peace. I wasn't setting my mind on the Spirit....I was trying to find rest out of my own flesh. The grace is that it is the Spirit who comes to our hearts and give us life and peace.