Run YOUR Race!

I simply can NOT relate to people who enjoy running! I've tried it. Most recently just a few months ago. I got all gung-ho about exercising--as normally happens when the holiday poundage begins to add up!--and I thought I would try running. Mind you, I've never run for pleasure, if you wanna call it that. I had to run in PE classes growing up and that certainly was NOT pleasure. I ran after toddlers (especially Austin!) but I don't think that really counts. But since I know people who truly enjoy running and are very fit, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Um. Nope. Uh-uh. Thanks, but no thanks. There was nothing "fun" about it. My joints hurt. My lungs hurt. My brain hurt. I'm too old and set in my ways to be re-programmed into thinking running is fun! The Good Lord didn't make me a cheetah for a reason!

BUT...I AM a runner!!

Yep! You are too!

Huh??

"...let us RUN with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

That scripture is one of my all-time favorites! On the margin of my Bible I have a note that reads: "My race is different from others. We're each called to a different race marked out for us!"

Isn't that wonderful news?! I find it very freeing! My race is not your race. We probably aren't even entered in the same event! It's kinda like the Olympics, with athletes competing in so many different races. Skiers doing their thing. Ice skaters doing their thing. Sure, each race has several participants, but lots of them are competing while knowing they don't have a chance at winning the gold medal. They simply want to compete and do their personal best.

It's taken me a lot of years to finally come to grips with this concept. I spent most of my life comparing myself to others. I wasn't good enough or pretty enough or smart enough. I was afraid to compete because I was afraid I'd fail. I never understood that I could "win" without actually "winning."

I understand that now! God has a plan for my life. A wonderful plan that He designed for ME!! No one else can finish my race but me! My race looks very different from your race! That's why we should never, ever compare ourselves to someone else. They are in a completely different race. A completely different event!

Run YOUR race! Don't worry about other folks. They're running their own race too!