The "Same Gold Medal" Entry

This week on Dee’s obsession with the Olympics??

I found 2 new competitions 2 days ago that I had no idea existed. Just two days ago, I discovered marathon swimming and the surprising addition of breaking (breakdancing!) to the Olympic lineup.

Let me start with marathon swimming.

When my mum called me to watch, I didn’t quit understand her shock until they kept swimming, and swimming,?

And swimming,

And swimming,

And 20 minutes had passed in just lap one??

LAP ONE!

My siblings and I sat there in awe as we watched these amazing women swim over 2 hours non-stop in the Seine river.?

We started joking about the prize they should get. We agreed that this level of endurance couldn’t possibly be for just a gold medal.

Surely, they deserved something more (my mum suggested gold planets)???

We even said they all deserved medals just for finishing the race. I mean!!

That same night, as if our minds hadn't already been blown, my brother and I discovered that breakdancing was scheduled for the next day.?

Breakdancing? In the Olympics? Imagine our shock! We didn’t even know that was a thing. But there it was, officially listed as an Olympic sport.

Then, my sister, in her infinite wisdom, said something that has stuck with me since then. She said;

“So the same gold medal that people are swimming 2 hours for, other people are breakdancing for it”??

At first, we all burst out laughing.?

The thought of someone spinning on their head for a few minutes and getting the same reward as someone who spent two hours battling in the Seine seemed, well, a bit hilarious.?

But then, as I kept thinking on it, I realized there was something deeper in what she said.

Despite the difference in effort, time, and skill set, I realized that the end-game of every competition in the Olympics is gold, silver and bronze.?

Whether you are a skateboarder pulling off tricks, a gymnast jumping insane heights, a footballer playing for 90 minutes,?a basketballer playing for 48, a cyclist, an athlete, a diver, a surfer, or even a marathon swimmer or break dancer.?No one’s gold medal is more valuable than the other.?

They are all Olympians and every winner is an Olympic gold medalist. Whether they spent 2hours in the water or 42 seconds in the 100m sprint.

Why am I highlighting this?

There are so many times we underestimate the gift God had given us because we are comparing? it to other “mainstream” gifts.?

We see leaders in big industries and think that the gift you have to solve a specific problem is not big enough so it will not matter. That is such a lie.

When we start to compare and contrast, placing little value on our abilities, we forget that every gift, no matter how big or small, has its own worth.

It’s easy to see the marathon swimmer and think they earned their medal and then look at the break dancer and think they didn’t. That is where we go wrong.?

Even breakdancing is hard work. If it was so easy, everyone would be a winner.?

We forget that every gift serves a purpose, and every talent has its own stage. Just like in the Olympics, where no gold medal is worth more than another, in life, no gift is greater or less than another.

The Bible says to “run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Notice it doesn’t specify what we are running as because all our races are different.

It says to run your race, because the prize isn’t just for the fastest or the strongest—it’s for those who endure and complete their race, whatever that race may be.

You might be the person with the obvious, “mainstream” gift, or you might be the one whose talent is a little less mainstream.?

But the thing is: your gift is your gift. It’s been given to you for a reason, and it’s valuable.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your gift isn’t worth as much because it doesn’t look like someone else’s.?

Don’t undervalue what you’ve been blessed with just because it’s different.

In our lives we are to use the gifts we have received. Your gift is not “less than.” You were given the gift for a reason. Harness it to its full capacity.

It’s your uniqueness that will stir you to greatness.

RANDOM FACT OF THE WEEK: Break dancing be an a part of Olympic sport in this Olympics. Paris 2024 is the first show of the competition. Marathon swimming was added to the Olympics in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. BOOK I AM READING THIS WEEK: This week I am reading Born a crime by Trevor Noah

The next time you want to compare your gift to someone else’s, remember that in the eyes of the world, and in the eyes of God, no gift is worth more than another.?

It’s what you do with your gift that counts.

I wish you the best week.

See you next Sunday!

Your trusty growth partner,

Dee?