Traded Dreams by Glynis M Belec

 When I saw the blog prompt for Inscribe this month, I knew I was in trouble.

“How can an athlete’s story or a metaphor from the Olympics inspire your writing and faith?”

Ugh. There it was. In my face.

 I love the athletes and really do admire their grit and determination to rise and conquer. I might be missing the point here but anything involving high-falutin’ prizes makes me cringe because I always worry about motivation and I feel sorry for the underdog. The ones who are called the losers; the ones who cry because they don’t make it to the Olympics; the ones who spend their entire lives trying to go for the gold but are disappointed over and over.

Marcia, in her post earlier said, “There are those who just can’t seem to lose and those who just can’t seem to win.”

I liked that and I would like to add, there are those who just can’t seem to make it no matter how hard they try.

I really did want to wax eloquent about going for the gold, finding satisfaction in the silver, being blessed by the bronze. I wished I could find a gentle way to compare the determination of the athletes to the perseverance of the people – you know never giving up, applying that wisdom to our writing and all that. Always winning!

About 40lbs ago, I was reasonably athletic, albeit clumsy. I fancied myself an Olympic gymnast. I loved the uneven bars and floor exercises, but I grew too tall to make it on the team - both teams. 

So I gave up my dream of being an Olympic gymnast. Even though I had that dream, I later realized that it was okay to ‘give up’. I wasn’t giving up because I was a failure. I gave up my dream and exchanged it for another for I realized my energy was better expended elsewhere. I didn’t know it at the time but I believe it was a huge God nudge.

Sometimes we put so much pressure on winning that we forget when it all comes down to it in the end, winning in an earthly sense doesn’t really matter. In 2nd Chronicles 15:7 it says, "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

I think we have to figure out our strengths by talking to God, realizing that our ‘free will’ sometimes needs to become a ‘free won’t’ and admitting that God’s plan is better.

I have seen young people go into a depression because they didn’t measure up on the field, the ice, on the diamond. I’ve watched young people play organized sports and heard the derogatory remarks and seen the despondency of a child and the resulting removal of the fun factor. When that happens all I want to

do is start a team and call it Glory Bound. And everyone would be a winner!

So my cheering this year is going to be for those who don’t win the medals. The ones who fall and get up again (or for those who are too weak to get up). The ones who lose a medal by a millisecond. The ones who cannot complete an event because of illness; a death in the family; a sprained ankle. The ones who do their best. They are all winners. And even those of us who have/had dreams. If God is in it, no one can be a loser! 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Glynis lives, loves, laughs and does an awful lot of reading, writing, publishing and praying in her home office. 

Her latest children's book, JESUS LOVES ME WHEN I DANCE, celebrates and shows us that with Jesus Love, we'll never lose!