Cross Country Freedom

To me, running is a perfect way to glorify God. It allows me to express strength, freedom, dominion, and persistence. What a great way to overcome all types of mental and physical limitations!

I began running cross-country during my sophomore year in college. Unfortunately, my first season was a little frustrating, as I dealt with several different injuries. So at the beginning of last fall, I was resolved not to experience a similar situation.

This time, I decided that I would pray about anything that would detract from my spiritual freedom as God’s child, naturally expressing health and joy. Rather than just showing up at practices to run and complete the workouts, I wanted being an athlete to mean so much more. I came to see running as, primarily, a time to glorify God and celebrate His goodness.

Even with this approach, things weren’t easy. Right from the beginning, I struggled with a couple of issues such as recurring stomachaches. Several ideas in my study of the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson helped me see the powerlessness of this to detract from my performances, and helped me assert my spiritual perfection. One line that stuck with me was on page 221 of Science and Health: “… neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of mortal mind, can make one suffer … .” Realizing that my thought had a lot to do with how I felt, I tried to make sure that I aligned myself with God, by not harboring any fears and being alert to the false concept that I needed to put up with some kind of stomach-related condition in the first place. I prayed to know the truth about myself as an expression of God, and to reject the idea that my freedom could be hindered in any way. The stomachaches soon ceased, and the discomfort didn’t return.

By mid-season, though, I was faced with shin splints, a condition I had dealt with in years past while running and playing tennis. I was frustrated and kept thinking I’d already been healed of this difficulty through prayer during the previous cross-country season. But I thought about the idea of “walk[ing] with Love along the way” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 139), and I began to see that I could not be punished for doing good, for glorifying God. Things improved as I began to see that a sense of time (in any healing) was totally deceptive. It didn’t matter how long I’d been praying for healing, since my spiritual perfection isn’t dependent on time. And matter, or my body, couldn’t possibly “know” and remember what difficulty had been presented to me the day before. I saw that I could nip a problem, physical or otherwise, “in the bud.”

An idea my tennis coach gave me during a tournament one weekend also really helped during my cross-country season. He explained that he had read in a sports magazine that once we admit something three times, it becomes like an “addiction.” That blew my mind! It really got me thinking about how important it is to counteract repetitious, fear-based thinking with the truth of spiritual perfection the first time … and the second … and the third.

So I actively started praying to counteract any pushy material suggestions about my body that came my way. And as I dug into this, I started realizing all the different ways we’re tricked into believing that God isn’t actually always present, powerful, or loving. Sometimes I even laughed out loud at how ridiculous these tricks seemed. Frequently I would even say, “No!” out loud when a physical ailment came up. It wasn’t about 
being stubborn; rather, I felt I was “taking possession” of my body and being “firm in [my] understanding that the divine Mind governs” (Science and Health, p. 393). These prayers were not based on blind faith, since I was able to better understand my link to God. The shin splits (or any other limitation) just couldn’t be a permanent part of me.

I often pondered these metaphysical ideas during practices. Each time I ran a lap around the track during workouts, 
I would focus on “dropping” thoughts that seemed to be bothering me, and “picking up” something to be grateful for. And I actively prayed for myself and for my team, listening for God’s direction.

Needless to say, I enjoyed a very harmonious end to the season. Not only was I running with freedom, without shin splints or stomachaches, but I found I was able to run faster than ever before, continually setting new personal records and enjoying amazing workouts. I’m so grateful to know that injury and discouragement don’t have to be a part of the sports 
experience.

by Heather Libby
From the March 1, 2010 Christian Science Sentinel
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