Broadcast 2
My church (Granger Community Church) is working through a series called Making Love...Last. We're in week 3 and the pastor leading the series, Rob Wegner, challenged us in the previous week with these two next steps: Broadcast the message that others (your significant other, your best friend, your bf/gf, whoever) are "more important than you," and find one interest about them to invest in.
My husband and i are both runners. We like to run. 5Ks, 10Ks, 1/2 marathons, marathons. We run through town, we run past town, we run up hills...well, you get the idea. So this is a common interest, but our methods aren't as common.
I've pretty much settled on the 1/2 marathon distance. I really don't see myself going past that. My husband, however, doesn't really run much under the 1/2 marathon distance. I like to listen to music; he likes to talk. I'm a bit slower and mental about my running; he's faster and physical. I wear mizunos; he wears asics. Ok, Ok, Ok...some of these details aren't so important, but the reality is our common interest doesn't necessarily always bring us together. How we choose to spend time running together often depends on the other giving up something.
I like running alone, listening to my music and absorbing things around me. I'm mental about every movement my body makes and every strike my foot takes. So, when my husband asks me to run with him on a long run, a part of me cringes and wants to say, "no." It means giving up the above, having to physically up my game (run breathless 1/2 the time!) and lose sight of my surroundings because my husband changes direction at the drop of a dime and i have to be prepared for that!
I've come out of a few long runs frustrated and annoyed. The enjoyment of the run seemed to be overshadowed by my temperament toward my husband who "forced" me to run "his" way. I can laugh at this now, but isn't it interesting that even the simplest of things (exercising together) can be difficult to tackle when we are self-seeking and only concerned with our interest, what we can get out of it.
I'm learning to enjoy the solo runs when they're solo and make room for joy in the moments i run with my husband. *laugh* It's a work in progress but the truth is, the condition of his heart (pleased to run with his wife) matters more than the conditions of my run (what i expect).
Created over 2 years ago
