We all have marathons to run

I know a sweet young girl who completed an ultra marathon yesterday.  For those of you who do not know, which previously included me, this is whopping 50 miles!  She ran this course in 12:10 hours and finished first in her age group.  I cannot say enough about the determination and the spirit she possesses.  When I knew her best, she was a friend of my daughter's while we were stationed in Hawaii.  She was always very high-spirited and opinionated, which I loved about her.  She reminds me of my oldest daughter in that way.  When this energy is channeled the right way great things are accomplished.  One can change the world.  Both she and my oldest daughter possess the confidence of "knowing" that they are different, and they do not exert the insane energy to try to conform to any societal or otherwise comfortable standards.  They stand up for what they believe and they make no apologies for it.  Often this young lady intimidated me with her confidence, but with that came respect for her ideologies.  I did not always agree with her, but I respected her because she held firm and she was passionate.

Should we not all be allowed to embrace our individual personalities?  Just because we call ourselves Christians, or conservatives, or libertarians, or liberals, etc. does not mean that we have to agree on everything or try to squeeze ourselves into a doctrinal box.  God created each of us for a special purpose and that role will go unfulfilled if we are blindly following the paths of others.  We are not to be bound by a particular set of rules; our Creator binds us.

We all have marathons to run, ultra marathons in fact.  We are not meant to follow the world, but to pursue the Lord and the authorship of very own being.  Our marathon may be raising a family alone, or living with disease.  It may be a life of poverty...monetary, familial, or material.  Marathons are unique to each person.  Running our marathon simply will not work if we are imitating others.  Sure, on the surface there may be a few well-meaning accolades along the way; cheers from an unknown crowd.  Ultimately though, nothing will satisfy our inner core or bring glory to the living God until we stand firm in our beliefs and fulfill God's purpose for our life.