A Modern Erroneous Teaching

I was watching Planes with my husband this weekend. The basic plot is a crop duster has a dream to win a round-the-world-race with some of the fastest planes in the world. A crop duster is not made to race around the world. He is made to fly over crops spraying them with insecticides. This particular crop duster has heart, though, and so he enters the race, squeaks in my the skin of his teeth, and (spoiler alert) he wins the race. 

When we finished the movie, Dave commented on this running theme found in many children's movies that you can be whoever you want to be as long as you have enough heart. He said it is actually a bunch of bologna. He mentioned our dog Gus. See that day we had taken him to the dog park. He is an English bulldog. He is short and has a ten minute window of stamina. At the park there were German shepherds, American bulldogs, and all kinds of mutts. These dogs love the park. They run and chase each other, wrestle, and jump all over each other. Gus has heart. He loves other dogs, but he just can't keep up. He tries and tries, but after a short burst of energy, he is exhausted and throws himself on the ground panting and foaming at the mouth. No matter how hard he tries, he is not made to run with shepherds and labs. 

I thought about this as I was at a prayer meeting last night. I was surrounded by women of God, whom I love and admire. Several times I have jealously thought about how much I want to be like them. I want to pray with the authority of Priscilla, with the passion of Donnalynn, and the affection of Michelle. I often think I am not them. There is a temptation to mimic them and try to pray in the same way they do. But God sent me a freeing message: "I am not them." I was not made to pray like them. I was made to pray like Melissa Wetzel. No matter how much heart I have, I can't change who I am and what I am made to do. That when really accepted is truly freeing.