A Little Tweak Was All I Needed

Last week, I thought I was going to have to hang up my running shoes for good.  I was afraid that my window of opportunity to run had been closed and locked, and that age and a family history of bad knees had caught up with me.

Gradually over the winter, a few twinges caught my attention, nothing more than that, nothing to worry about.  My left knee did not hurt, it just didn't feel quite right.  One morning last week, it felt a little inflamed inside, and all I could think about was how my grandmother's arthritic knees looked like cauliflowers.  She hobbled around until she was 81, a perfect candidate for knee replacement surgery, which was not even invented yet. 

My knee didn't hurt.  It just felt odd.  Was my time up?  Should I cease running while I am still able to walk without a limp?

And then a few days ago, I realized that I had been running for ten years with virtually no injuries.  What was I doing differently?  What changed? 

I looked down.  I had purchased some new running shoes over the winter.   They were cool and blue.  Could it be something as simple as that?  The wrong shoes for me?

I pulled out a pair of my old shoes that still had some life in them and went for a run.  And again, the same old shoes yesterday.  No feeling of inflammation, no discomfort.  Back in the saddle again.  I flew out the door this morning, thankful that it was nothing more than that.  I ran for my grandmother today.

I wasn't ready to give up running.  I didn't have to.  I just needed a little tweak.  It was not age, nor arthritis, but the wrong shoes.  A very simple fix.

And it made me wonder what other things in my life could use a little tweak, and the dramatic difference it could make-- in how I treat people around me, in my prayer life, in organizing my day, in how I do my work?  In loving God and loving others?  Change starts with just a baby step in the right direction, thinking through what I need to do differently.

For it is precept upon precept,
precept upon precept,
line upon line,
line upon line,
here a little, there a little.

                  Isaiah 28.10

That is how we change, how we learn, and how we grow in Him.