I've been thinking a lot lately about running. Now don't get me wrong, I've been going running, too, not just thinking about it, but it's been on my mind of late.
I remember that a few years back I used to look at people out running and wonder "where are they going?" It seemed to me to be such a fruitless exercise if it wasn't somehow combined with the rigours of the day and served a useful purpose by enabling you to get from location A to place B and feel good about yourself in the process. But to just run? To end up back where you started? I just didn't get it. Until I started to run.
Now I think I get it such an extent that I have formulated a sort of metaphorical rule of life based on running; The Way to Run.
Ok, so here is my starting point: we are integrated, holistic beings. Our so-called mind, body and soul are inextricably linked and make us who we are. So the health of our mind, body or soul will have a knock-on effect to the others. And being healthy is better than being unhealthy. So far so uncontroversial.
Now look in the mirror. Lovely. You were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. But when God made you, what do you think he had in mind as being the best exercise that will complement your body type and your present situation? If you see large hands maybe God wants you to be a boxer. If you've also got large legs, maybe He's thinking you'd be best at swimming. I don't know what a sky-diver looks like, but I guess that could be you. If, like me, there's not a lot of spare meat on you then maybe God wants you go running.
It took me many years to work out that God didn't make me to cycle but made me to run. You see, I have the tiniest calf muscles in the universe. Why would God want me to cycle when all natural born cyclists have enormous calves? And yet I spent years cycling. I cycled daily through central London and out to the South when training to be a nurse. I cycled in Coventry (where NO-ONE cycles on the road-even the police cycle on the pavement here!) when a community nurse (think Nerys Hughes with a skinhead and a goatee beard), and I cycled when I first became a minister. And it always felt like an effort.
No, I'm sure He made me to run.
But I worried for a bit that I have a weakness in one of my knees which occasionally fares up. Might this mean I shouldn't bother? Running is bad for the knees. Maybe I should take up high impact Guinness drinking instead? I realised that the weakness in my knee serves to remind me that although I was made to run, I am not perfect. I am not the perfect runner. I am flawed and have been injured in the past, but God still knows what I am capable of. He had a plan for me when He made me.
When I look in the mirror I see a runner. One who could be in better shape, but a runner nonetheless.
What do you see when you look in the mirror? What might God have made you to do to keep your mind, body and soul in good shape?
