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Regarding My New Superhuman Calves
by Kate Hurley I have never been a super athletic person. I was the one in gym class who would cry during games of dodgeball. (I think I would still cry as an adult, too. It is a freaky game.) I was the one who was picked last for all team sports. I was the one who threw a bat backwards by mistake, hitting Pam Dispense in the head and sending her to the hospital. Yeah. I was that kid. The one thing I was good at was dancing. So the only time I wouldn't dread PE was when we were square dancing or doing the popcorn dance. As an adult, even though I love to hike and backpack and am a Zumba instructor, I have quietly avoided most other athletic endeavors. (Being a Zumba instructor makes sense though, since it is so closely related to the popcorn dance.) But lately I've been riding my bike a lot. This makes me pretty proud, especially because I have always been jealous of bikers. I see them on the side of the road with their tiny little spandex and their super human calves and I think "I wish I could be that cool." One day I remembered a friend telling me that I should always pay attention when I am jealous of someone. It usually means they are doing something that I am afraid of. Something I should be brave and do myself. So I overcame my fear and started biking when I lived in San Francisco. I rode it everywhere. It was one of my favorite things about living in that city. Now that I'm back in Boulder my friend Estee has been taking me on mountain bike rides. I've been going almost every other day. I am honestly still not that good. But I absolutely love it. Lately though, I've been taking note of what is happening in my head as I'm riding. What I am often thinking about is how people will believe I'm more awesome now that I go on bike rides so often. I am pondering who I can take with me so they will be impressed by my awesomeness. When I come home and my roommates ask me what I did that day, I say "Oh, I was just on a bike ride. Again." And I realize that I am trying to feel valued and seen because of what I do. Not because of who I am. This is not a new thing. I have lived a lot of my life wanting people to notice things that I am good at, especially guys that I wanted to impress. I worked at a camp in Colorado for years and years. I have never felt so in my element in all of my life as when I worked at that camp. Other counselors called me "The Legend." I loved reaching out to my campers and seeing their lives changed. I loved playing chubby bunnies with them, even if it did mean that they were on the verge of choking at any given moment. I loved singing them to sleep. I have been in touch with some of them for over a decade. I absolutely loved it. I also loved Bryan, the guy in the blue teepee across the way. And Sam in the red tepee. And I also kind of liked Ben, who helped me start my fires in the morning. Even though my love for the kids was sincere, I was also very aware that being great with kids was something that these handsome counselors had on their what I want in a wife list. I found out many years later that a lot of those guys secretly really liked helping me light my fires. Sadly, they never asked me out. Maybe I was too much of a legend and scared them off. Soon after, I became a professional songwriter and worship leader and played in churches and bars and coffee shops and Rainbow Gatherings. I worked hard to write songs that would bring the hope of Jesus without sounding churchy and religious. I sang songs to broken people, comforting them. I wanted to change people's lives by painting an accurate picture of God to people who had misunderstood him. But I also wanted to look pretty while playing my guitar. It is embarrassing to admit that, but its' true. One of my biggest fears is that people will like me on stage or while I'm teaching or when I'm writing but will be disappointed in me in real life. And yet, my constant cognizance of other people's opinions of me is feeding into that fear. It is feeding the lie that I will only be loved for what I do or how talented I am, not for who I am. Yesterday, as I was riding my bike, I started thinking about flowers. About how there are so many flowers in the world that no one will ever see. God created them just because he loves to create. Not because he needs to impress anyone. Not because they need to be seen. Just because they are beautiful. I thought "I am like those flowers. Even if no one notices that I am beautiful, God created me. Therefore, I am beautiful." I thought "Even if no one sees the new super human calves that I may have one day, I am still awesome." I thought "Right now, in this moment, I want to ride my bike just because I love it. Not for anyone else but me and my God." So I did. It was a very good feeling. ***You can reach me through www.katehurley.com. Just hit the contact button. Kate Hurley is a writer, worship leader, and teacher. She writes the popular blog The Sexy Celibate and wrote a book called Cupid is a Procrastinator: Making Sense of the Unexpected Single Life. The mission statement of her life is "To paint an accurate picture of a passionate God." Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |