It’s a wonderfully warm day today and I joked that I was glad that I hadn’t entered the Olympics this year. I wouldn’t have had the energy in this heat! Of course, you can’t self-select yourself for such a competition. But we do tend to set ourselves our own challenges and competitions.
Sometimes we push ourselves, as the Olympic motto puts it, to become,”Swifter, Higher, Stronger.” And sometimes even that is not enough. One of Team GB’s swimmers, Max Litchfield came 4th in the Individual Medley final. He missed out on a medal by hundredths of a second. His time would have won Olympic Gold 4 years ago.
Adam Peaty is a phenomenal breast stroke swimmer. He has already won gold medals at two previous Olympics. Last Sunday evening he went for a third and came equal second. The winner was a mere two hundredths of a second faster than him. All that training, all those mental challenges – and he has spoken publicly of his mental health struggles – all the ‘doing without’ to achieve a single goal. How do you handle that?
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews likens the Christian journey to a race and urges us to, “run with perseverance the race that is set before us,” with Jesus as our example and guide. As part of that journey we might also embrace the other three Olympic values of Excellence, Respect and Friendship. Adam did just that when he immediately embraced and congratulated the gold medal winner, Nicolo Martinengi.
Chris Dawson