The kids and I have all come down hard with Olympic fever.

The games were hardly on my radar until a few days ago when on a whim I decided to watch a highlight reel from the previous days events. Before long we were all piled on the couch completely engulfed in track & field, canoeing, tae kwon do, boxing, fencing, artistic swimming, BMX- if its an Olympic sport we’re into it. The kids have all these questions about scoring and rules for these events and I keep telling them, “This stuff has my attention for a brief window of time just once every 4 years- I know nothing about [insert sport here]!” So between watching events we’re researching to learn more about the different sports featured…and then we quickly become armchair experts and start critiquing the performance of these professionals who’ve dedicated their lives to these events. Our very favorite thing is Olympic Climbing- it’s wild. And have you seen the 14-year-old Chinese diver, Quan Hongchang? She’s incredible! And my very favorite clip so far, is this video from a Speed Walking event, about 27 seconds in one of the competitors gets a cramp… in speed walking! Ha! The athletes that are competing are just incredible. In no alternate timeline of my life, could I imagine getting close to having the talent and ability required to even consider thinking about making an attempt to be in the Olympics. In the spirit of positivity I've sometimes thought to myself, “It’s ok Self, you have some cool talents too, you just haven’t discovered them yet!” I jest…but these people really are unbelievable.

Tonight I would like to bestow my personal Gold Medal for our favorite Olympian of the 2020 Tokyo Games to Sydney McLaughlin. She won Gold in the Women’s 400m Hurdles. After winning her medal she posted the following on her personal Instagram account,

"Let me start off by saying, what and honor it is to be able to represent not only my country, but also the kingdom of God. What I have in Christ is far greater than what I have or don’t have in life. I pray my journey may be a clear depiction of submission and obedience to God. Even when it doesn’t make sense, even when it doesn’t seem possible. He will make a way out of no way. Not for my own gratification, but for His glory. I have never seen God fail in my life. In anyone’s life for that matter. Just because I may not win every race, or receive every one of my heart’s desires, does not mean God had failed. His will is PERFECT. And He has prepared me for a moment such as this. That I may use the gifts He has given me to point all the attention back to Him.”

It’s not often these days that I see people attribute their success to their Creator, so when it happens I’m grateful and impressed. Sydney had a great opportunity here to take the glory, she could have said “I trained my whole life for this moment- I did it!… but instead she used this win to share her faith.

You know, I’m never going to do anything like that. I’m never going to attract International attention with a huge win. I’ll likely live a quiet and content life with little excitement…and that’s the way I want it by the way. But I’ve got all these little successes each day- just tiny things in my work or general life. We all have these daily successes- loving people, listening well, teaching children, mentoring, remembering to do devotions, being a great employee, forgiving, creating, exercising, etc. How often are we pointing the attention back to God and giving him the glory for the things we accomplish. I find myself thinking that if I was ever in a position like Sydney McLaughlin, of course I would use that as an opportunity to share my faith! But if I don’t remember to praise God for his hand in the small things in my life- would I remember to glorify him with the big wins? I don’t know, something to think about. So I think we can all take a lesson from my favorite Tokyo Olympian and give credit where it is due.