As you run along down the road are you a gazelle or a glider?  Much is been made about running technique and you can easily find video analysis of world class runners with various experts expounding on the benefits or limitations of one style over another.  One of my favorites is the difference between gazelle runners versus gliding runners.  Gazelle’s tend to have more bounding strides, with great mid to forefoot strike and push off.  They are touted for their longer stride length, and graceful lithe running style.  Gliders don’t lift their feet as high and may have more heel strike, but supposedly have less joint stress as they glide over the road rather than bounce down the road.  The experts spend a great deal of time trying to convince you why you should change your running style to meet their expectations.  What I find frustrating is that there are equal proponents of each running style.  Surely if one style was superior over the other there would be all kinds of scientific data to support it.  But what I’ve found is that neither one is absolutely superior to the other overall.  Individually it is likely that you are either a natural gazelle or a natural glider. If you are a gazelle you are comfortable with it and trying to change to a glider is either likely to be difficult at best and perhaps painful as you force your body to run in an unnatural way. I’m a glider.  I tried for awhile to change into a gazelle.  I got shin splints, my arches hurt, and in general running was uncomfortable.  Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t have technique improvements to make in my running style, but I have to accept the fact that I’m a glider and not a gazelle.  I will try and make improvements to my running style when I can, and make those changes slowly and with adequate adaptation time to minimize injury.  But I am who I am.  My body mechanics can not be made to imitate some tall, lanky runner who bounds over the trail like a deer; at least not without causing musculoskeletal stresses that I am not accustomed to and may cause significant stress injury.

It’s a bit like than with the other areas of our life, even our faith-life.  I can’t be someone else.  I am who I am…short, introverted, a planner.  Our personality gifts define us in many ways, how we respond, what we do, how others see us. Ephesians 4:11 tells us we are not all the same, that we each have a place to fill.  I can’t fill yours, and you can’t fill mine.  God may sometimes ask me to step out of my comfort zone and do something “wildly crazy” (by my calculation), but more often than not He asks me to be who I am, who He made me to be, to complete the job He has prepared for me to do (and prepared me to do).  Don’t confuse this with acting in our own “strength”.  My weakness of introversion allows His strength to shine through when I involve myself in His task-at-hand, whatever my role.  1 Corinthians 12:12 is another verse that reminds us that while we are all a part of the same body, we are each a different part, with different jobs and responsibilities.  So even if you think your just a big toe in the large scheme of things your job is important….just ask someone who lost their big toe how hard it was to start walking again!