on people pleasing and the two sides of the coin

Today I ran on the outside track at the gym. I ran way too fast due to the summer weather, (I am now convinced that Texas weather has attention deficit disorder- summer. no winter. no fall. no summer.), my new shoes, and the fact that Pauline and I spent thirty minutes freaking out about how wonderful it is that our bodies work and we can laugh and pinch and run and play, and how we should do it now while we can. (We spent the previous thirty minutes realizing that one day we would have children, and that afterward the skin that stretched on our bellies would hang there loosely. What do you do?! Tuck it into your pants?! Hide it with a sweater?! We needed the positive thinking for our mental health, so changed to celebrating the now)

Anyway... So I ran too fast, and had to stop early and walk. Which actually worked out well, because for the next forty minutes everything I saw was a story. A squirrel hiding an acorn from me, a weeping willow tickling its shrub girlfriends, a man who ran so slow he almost did not move, but did so with such a determined look on his face you would have thought he were running the olympics. Even I was proud and stood straighter.

These stories were cut (though I cheated and gave tiny story sprinkles) in light of the following:

I looked over as I walked and saw a man with sunglasses on and headphones in, running like with arms out to his side, singing loudly to his music. I thought to myself, "now this is a free man. " And I thought about people-pleasing and what a waste of time it was, and how he didn't give a damn what I thought or what anyone else thought, (though anyone with any sense had to think he was rockin), and how happy he was as a result of this perspective.

So I decided to write about living to please people, and why we shouldn't do it. This is after all, the day the Lord has made, and you are the only you in the world. You might have no desire to run and sing out loud, but you might want to lay down on the grass, or introduce yourself to a stranger, or bake some bread. And it was going to be the greatest, most inspiring blog ever.

But then...

I rounded the corner and saw the other side of the coin. An older man in short shorts and nothing else lathered himself up with oil (though I actually only saw him lathering his chest and bald head), and sprawled out on one of the picnic tables to bathe himself. Now this man too clearly did not care what anyone else thought. (or else he did and was quite pleased with himself, which is somewhat frightening) and my "just be yourself" blog went out the window. I would have appreciated very much if he had asked my opinion on him laying there while I enjoy the fall weather.

I know how this sounds- like I think that people should be themselves unless it happens to infringe on my interests. But what do you think? Where is the line? I think it comes down to living as unto God and no one else. Please seek him earnestly before going to my gym and undressing outside.

Again, if you don't know Him, call me. I know this post is mostly just in humor, but I'd love to introduce Him to you.