Run Your Race
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified”
1 Corinthians 9:24-26 | ESV
So run that you may obtain it. That YOU may obtain it.
In a race, ALL the runners run.
Every athlete exercises SELF-control.
I discipline MY body.
As the Body of Believers, we have been given a race, a mission, set before us. And not just set before us; our individual races are specifically tailored TO us. Our strengths, our weaknesses, our specific skill sets, our natural and spiritual giftings are all factored into the race we have been called, by God, to run. Like every individual race has a God-appointed purpose, every individual race has God-permitted hurdles that are also tailored to us, and all are for the purpose of bringing Him glory.
We each have our own unique-to-us races to run, and we each have already been equipped by God to run it well. It was woven into us from the very beginning when our Father knit us together in our mother’s womb, before we took our first breath earthside. Our temperaments, our natural gifts, our spiritual gifts, how we are wired, our interests, the proclivity we have towards certain things… all were determined before the beginning of time. And… none of these things are accidental.
There is a reason you may prefer English to Mathematics. There is a reason you enjoy public speaking and have phenomenal intrapersonal skills. There is a reason you can vocally carry a tune. There is a reason you have an eye for editing photographs (Shelby!), or an eye for graphic design (Maggie!), or a love for words and teaching (Mom!). There is a reason you may be more task-oriented than people-oriented. There is a reason you are drawn to your favorite colors or favorite activities. There is a reason you were given the specific children that you have, just like there is a reason your children were specifically given you as a mother. The list goes on, and it is all part of the blueprint for YOU, God’s grand idea.
Run your race. As a mom, there are so many opinions floating around that can feel suffocating. Especially when decisions a mother makes are questioned or condemned, and makes her question her God-given intuition regarding her children. I hope this sets someone free: if you are called to breastfeed, breastfeed. If you are called to formula feed, formula feed. If you are called to birth your children at home, birth your children at home. If you are called to give birth in a hospital, give birth in a hospital. There are so many other examples, too, but I use this example because it’s what’s relevant to me right now. Consult the Lord and His Word in all things, and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He guides every daughter of His differently, in ways that are unique to them—with their best interests at heart—and we are to follow His guidance, giving Him glory, no matter what. No matter what. We cannot compare ourselves to our sisters, and we certainly cannot compare our sisters to us. For what use is comparing an arm to a leg, or a hand to a foot?
They’re incomparable. As followers of Jesus Christ, we make up His Body of Believers; therefore, we all have a specific design and function on behalf of the Kingdom. God caused that; it’s His purpose by which we are different. Feet carry. Hands create. Voices flow in melody. Like colors on a canvas, like notes in a symphony, we each have our God-ordained place in the Body of Christ, and we are absolutely without rival.
The Body needs you. The Body needs YOU, to bring what YOU have to the table.
My race is my race to run, and it is my duty to put my head down and run my race, free from distraction, keeping my eyes forward upon my Creator. Scripture says:
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil”
Proverbs 4:25-27 | ESV
When I think of swerving “to the right or to the left,” it reminds me of when I used to swim competitively growing up. Though my time swimming was short, one thing I learned was that any time I turned my head to see where my opponents were in the lanes beside me, I consequently slowed down and inevitably hurt my own race. All because I broke my focus to look at the people around me and compare their placement in the race to mine. While my intentions were to gauge where my counterparts were and ensure I was still in the lead—while that could seem “wise”, all comparison did was slow me down and delay my victory.
Had I kept my head down and “directly forward”, I would not have slowed down. “Swerving to the right or to the left”, comparing myself to my sisters, is a distraction from the Kingdom work that is specifically mine to do. Distraction, comparison, delays victory.
Personally, I really struggle with how slow-paced of a person I am. I mean, it takes me a walk around the sun to complete tasks that would take any other person a quick walk to the mailbox. I’ve always prayed that the Lord would change that in me—since I was young. But He’s made it clear that my pace is non-negotiable; it’s part of His blueprint that makes me me. Perhaps my husband needs a slow-paced wife (can confirm—my husband is the Energizer Bunny of task completion); perhaps my children need a slow-paced mother (can also confirm—my daughter is a fiery little thing and my son is right there with her). As much as I would love to change certain innate parts of me that I don’t like, there is nothing I can do except rely on God in my day-to-day. He knows how He made me; He knows how He wired me; He knows my grievances and the ugly flesh areas I wish I could change about me. But He’s crafted me that way for a purpose, with me in mind, my husband in mind, and my children in mind. And they need me to be fully, unapologetically, uninhibitedly me—just how my Father made me.
In his sermon, “When We Feel Burned Out”, Dr. Charles Stanley said: “[Spiritual] Maturity says that I’ve come to a place in life that I realize I can’t change myself but that my responsibility is to rely upon Him and depend upon Him every day for every thing, realizing it is not within myself to become or to do or to be better or become better or to make myself better or to change my conduct, or to change my behavior, live up to regulations, live up to rules, or to be a better person. My responsibility is to trust Him to do through me what He knows I cannot do.”
Run your race.
Whether your race is fast-paced or slow-paced, so run it.
Whether your race is single or married, so run it.
Whether your race is with children or without children, so run it.
Whether your race is on steep terrain or flat land, so run it.
We do not have the authority to change who we are, how we are made, how we are designed by God. But we have the power that raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit, within us to help us rely upon Him—especially
with the intricacies we wish we could change about us. And maybe, just maybe, the parts of us we dislike are the parts of us that our Father is most endeared to :). “That’s my girl”, He says with a delighted grin across His face as she ever-so-slowly and methodically moves about her day.
Even Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9:
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Paul embraced His thorn. He neither swerved to the right nor to the left; he didn’t wonder if Peter or Timothy received a thorn, too. But rather, He listened to the Voice that mattered. He kept his head directly forward and ran his race…as best he could while shackled in a prison cell.
We are all running our own races that are unique to us. Francesca was made to run Francesca’s race. Shelby was made to run Shelby’s race. Maggie was made to run Maggie’s race. Donna was made to run Donna’s race. And each of our individual races are crucial to the Kingdom; they matter. We cannot compare ourselves to our sisters, nor are we in competition with each other. Rather, we can learn from our sisters around us and encourage and enhance one another, and that’s a beautiful gift God's daughters have when done well.
So be YOU. Bring what you have to the table. Embrace your thorns. Laugh at your flaws. Appreciate your quirks. Trust your God-given intuition. Take note of your God-given gifts and interests. Your Father’s blueprint of YOU is perfect. Your race is worth running, and the only one the Lord saw fit to run it is you.
