MTC #215 - Being a Champion

While the official Spoken Word today centered on the theme of LOVE, there's one song we sang ("Call of the Champions") that paid honor to the Winter Olympics that just began this weekend. And it's about the Olympics I wanted to say a few words. 

The Olympics, of course, is a time to celebrate both physical and mental achievement. It's a time when athletes from all around the world can come together, compete, and become a gold, silver, or bronze champion. I find it fascinating that these athletes train for years and years to perfect their skills and talents, and then have one chance--one moment--to prove that the thousands of hours of hard work and discipline have made them worthy to wear a winning medal. As we watch them compete, we cheer when they flawlessly spin on the ice or speed down the slopes without crashing. We also cringe and feel terrible when we do see them crash or endure imperfect landings. We marvel when the difference between a gold and silver medal may be just a tenth of a second, or one-hundreth of a point. So close, so close! 

What we may fail to think about, though (at least I do), is that just being in the Olympics is an incredible accomplishment. Heck, even finishing last is nothing to be sad about. Placing 20th in some event, one could still say, "Hey, I'm the 20th best snowboarder in the entire world!" Yet, such individuals don't get much attention from the media. In some degree, we are a "winner-mentality" society and our focus is typically on the three top slots when it comes to the Olympics. 

As I was thinking about all of this, I thought about how we are all, each one of us, in the Olympics of life. EACH DAY is our opportunity to perform, do our best, and choose to be happy with the results. Sure, we'll have times we fall, crash, or under-perform. We may even have days where we feel like we didn't deserve any sort of medal. But that's OK because at least we're a part of this thing called life and are trying. And as we try, we strive to attach hope and optimism to our efforts, and, in the words of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "pursue personal improvement in a way that doesn’t include...feeling depressed or demolishing our self-esteem." 

I don't know what the non-medal achieving Olympic athletes think of themselves as they finish the games and head back home. But they are certainly champions in my book. They are, and all of the rest of us are, in our efforts to move forward and make it our best performance every day.

Until next time, God be with you.