GOOD FORM
There have been many times that I have been told by random strangers that I have good running form. My high school track coach should be proud. He made a big deal about creating “Ls and Vs” while running. Apparently it stuck. Most of the time the random strangers that comment on my form are current or former coaches.
My husband thinks it is a crazy runner thing to notice form. He laughs at me that I always notice other runners’ form and comment on how beautiful our children’s forms look as they dash across a field or a court. Good form is something worth noting.
I usually run during stressful times. I don’t mean this figuratively. I literally run in order to keep my stress levels lower.
I am in the midst of a good deal of stress as we are moving to a new city in order to start an Assemblies of God church. I cannot go running due to either a stress fracture or a heel spur. (I finally listened to my husband and had a doctor look at it…. who is sending me to another doctor. This is why I avoid going to the doctor….) Without running, I have to work harder to keep myself together.
It is my goal to live my life with good form. If someone is watching me as I go through life, I want them to see me and think, “She has beautiful form.” This is different than a beautiful form; although, I would like to have that too! The form I am talking about is the ability to handle both success and trials with grace and composure.
I have failed to have good form at different points in my life. However, one of my favorite things about being a human is the fact we are rarely in a position in which we cannot make a change or try again.
In the spirit of pursuing good form, I ask you to play coach. Comment below with how you maintain good form when the world is chaotic or when success is shining a spotlight on you.
I’ll start us off:
This year, I have been using a Bible in a year app. I try to begin each day with my reading. This helps me to focus on something bigger than me. It is a great way to gain perspective and center.
Now you….
It has come to my attention that some may not post what they do because they don’t want to sound like they are bragging. If that is you, feel free to post what you think would help people, yourself included, maintain good form. It doesn’t have to be something you personally do.
As I read the Word I underline verses that speak especially to me. I write them in my prayer journal if I feel they are for me to meditate on over periods in my life. I often meditate on them before I pray. They encourage me, and build my faith up. I want to come in faith when I bear the burdens of my family, friends and ministries. I know I can leave them in God’s hands, and walk on in confidence that He hears and answers. This is just one little tidbit about keeping my form while walking with Jesus.
Whether I actually maintain good form, I have to let the Lord be the judge. But it seems quite good to me and is entirely due to the mercy and grace of God, not me. He has mercy on whom he has mercy, and he hardens whom he wills. I walk in Christ, in him, and in the spirit of God. Like Paul, I’ve been impaled with Christ, and it’s no longer I who live, It’s Christ living in me. To get this way I’ve lost a lot of dung and gained some of Christ, due to a continual daily supply of life-giving spirit from God, and an insatiable hunger for his living and operative word, for about 40 years now. It hasn’t been all fun and games, more like lots of asking God for things, fear, trembling, and some suffering. Now I’m possessed by the living God, and don’t get to do what I want to do. I have to do what he wants. It’s a wonderful freedom from bad things and a wonderful slavery to God who is a Fountain of life-giving water in me. My “good form” is sometimes interpreted as very bad form by others. This type of walking has been called “total abandonment to God” by some. I think it’s just a normal walk for a believer in Christ, which we all experience to one degree or another. But “I am pursuing according to a goal, for the prize of God’s calling up in Christ Jesus. As many as are consummate, then, may dispose this. And if you are disposing anything differently, God also shall reveal this to you.” Yet even more, God is operating the entire universe (Eph. 1:11) toward his goal to be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). When he shows you what that means, you’ll enjoy a running form you never imagined. Even if a crowd jeers and hates you, you’ll have a big smile in your belly while you quietly mind your own business, running the race. God is spirit. God is love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have access to the Father. The Father is greater than the son. How much greater? It’s something to think about.
You may already know this, but bone spurs can often be repaired nutritionally. You may want to check it out before having surgery if it comes to that. I’m not trying to sell you anything, but you might find something helpful here. http://www.healthalert.com/default.aspx
I give thanks for EVERYTHING, knowing it comes from God (even if cursing about if first and then thanking him for my cursing too). That’s a shorter version of what I said above. God bless. 🙂