Uneven Strength

“Mom, you’re killin’ me!” my son yelled from about 20 strides behind me.

We were running uphill, and he did not like it!!!

“Come on, Payton!” I cajoled.  “There are pancakes with your name on them at the end of this run! I’m buying!”

That dialogue took place about 7 years ago! In mid-run, I realized the very real truth of what my coach and sports doctor had been teaching me since the time I laced up my very first pair of running shoes: Not all strength is the same!

Welcome to June, 12th Mile Community

Hmmm…Not all strength is the same!

The truth of it before me was kind of overwhelming. These were the facts: My son was very strong and fit. The weight-lifting sessions he accomplished would never be my reality. He was 28 years old. I was twice his age that year. Right now, age did NOT matter. In that moment, I was stronger than he was in the kind of effort we were exerting. I continued to mentally untangle the reality of what we were experiencing together as we completed our uphill effort and finished our mileage.

My son was preparing for a Tough Mudder, and I was training for an endurance race. The strength required for those two events was not the same. We had uneven strengths! It ended up blessing us both.  A few weeks later, we ran again, and my son totally decimated my strides both uphill and on the flats. Good thing, too! It turned out his event took place at a venue with demanding terrain. I was glad I had those runs with him; I’d like to believe I helped his training a little. It helped me too. All those years of hill sprints I had done now mattered to someone else. It encouraged me.

Different strengths are good. They matter. Our unevenness has power. We help each other with the color we do best! Even more…we have the freedom to grow something in ourselves all our lives. For the most part, growth in something is nearly always possible: a physical routine, an attitude, or a mental discipline. As God leads, we can train something different in our lives for all our lives. It can be fun, even rewarding, and often it is healthy. We are about to welcome the summer season. Perhaps we can try something new. I am considering learning pickleball, though I have never played it. Everyone says it is fun. So, I may just give it a try! ;o)

Witnessing the power of a new adventure in strength, my daughter experienced it while working as a medical aide at a senior living center a few years ago. A resident she cared for had been the first female physician in the city where she had lived. As my daughter got to know her, she learned that this incredible woman was taking two college classes for fun: Quantum Physics and Norse Mythology! She engaged in this study because that was her desire! She had a desire to take her mind for a walk! A rigorous one! ;o). It gave her joy! It was her space.  Not only did this woman enjoy being herself, but she also enjoyed growing herself, too. She inspired my daughter with that truth.

When I get to heaven, I want to run with the apostle Paul! I think he was a runner, or at the very least, he understood the sport well! He used so many running metaphors in the New Testament. One of those metaphors speaks directly to the issue of Uneven Strength. It appears in the book of Philippians. God says through Paul:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Philippians 3: 12.

Paul is focused on running the life journey God intends for him. He cannot be everyone, but he is determined to be Paul, in God’s design! 

 

Let’s do the same. Let’s grow in God’s design —Unevenly! ;o)

With love,

Louise Ann

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago….Ephesians 2: 10 (NLT)

“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”  Mother Teresa.

 

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