Mo Farah
If you didn't get a chance to watch the Olympics please allow me to share a heart warming story of determination and passion. Mo Farah, as many know, is Britain's most decorated athlete of all time. He holds more records and earned more medals than any of his fellow countrymen past or present. This year Mo competed and won the 10K track race. What makes this run and this man so special?
On the tenth lap of the race Mo clipped the heal of American runner Galen Rupp, he stumbled and fell. Mo could have walked off the track right then and there after his fall and no one would have said a word. But, Mo, showing what separates him from the rest gets back up and resumes the race. At this point he is obviously in the back of the pack and hurting. To the observing public they were admiring his will power to finish the race, considering he had no chance to win. The problem was, they forgot to tell Mo that he had no chance to win. With the majority of the race still ahead Mo slowly but surely passed each runner. On the final stretch of the last lap Mo passed the lead runner to win the race.
Look at the races in your life. Are you running to win, are you running to finish, or did you drop out when you fell. There is an ole saying that goes like this "winners focus on winning and losers focus on winners". What we often forget is what category we fall into. We were born to win, the only thing that blocks that is if we quit. Quitting is a learned behavior. There are times that your sphere of influence, your circle of friends, inform you when you should close shop and go home. Losing is painful, no doubt about it, but not near as painful as quitting. As difficult as this sounds most people you are surrounded by do not desire for you to be a winner. That goes for you as well, do you lift people up or push them down?
Leadership is a term that gets thrown around in just about every spectrum we enter. Churches preach it, businesses talk it, families need it, basically everyone searches for that roll model they can follow. Here in lies an interesting perspective, to be a leader, you have to have followers, and followers will only follow those people that inspire them. That inspiration can be positive or negative and sometimes knowing the difference is what determines if you win or lose.
Let's assume you are in the race of your life. It may not be a race you chose to be in but never the less you are in it. On lap ten you find out that the chemo didn't work, the investment failed, a loved one died, you lost your job, your relationships in peril, it's safe to say you fell down. This is where we find out how powerful and loving our God really is. All the sudden we find the ability to get up and go the extra mile. We never understood the strength in us until we had to tap into it. When not faced with a tenth lap slip we struggle to stay close to the leaders, but when we fall and our back is against the wall, we choose. If you can look up we can get up and if we can get up we can resume the race of our life.
Never let anyone tell you to stay down. If you are breathing your race is not complete. Mo Farah fell, Mo Farah got up, Mo Farah won the race. Was he special? NO not at all, he is as human as you and I. He was running a different race than we are yet the dynamics are much the same. Be a follower of leaders that never quit and more than that be a leader that attracts followers because you never quit.
Life is worth the effort to get up when you fall. The pain may be unbearable and all hope may seem lost, but something strange happens when you get up and get back in the race. God proves to you that you truly were born with the ability to make a difference. No matter what you are facing, whether it's an addiction, identity problems, self esteem, bankrupt, heart broke, cast out, left out, beat down, or whatever, GET UP and get moving. What makes you a winner in the race of life isn't what place you finish in, it is the fact that you got up when you fell and still crossed the finish line. Your life matters, never forget that, you are good enough, believe it, and God does have a blessing with your name on it, CLAIM IT.
peace and love
Dale
On the tenth lap of the race Mo clipped the heal of American runner Galen Rupp, he stumbled and fell. Mo could have walked off the track right then and there after his fall and no one would have said a word. But, Mo, showing what separates him from the rest gets back up and resumes the race. At this point he is obviously in the back of the pack and hurting. To the observing public they were admiring his will power to finish the race, considering he had no chance to win. The problem was, they forgot to tell Mo that he had no chance to win. With the majority of the race still ahead Mo slowly but surely passed each runner. On the final stretch of the last lap Mo passed the lead runner to win the race.
Look at the races in your life. Are you running to win, are you running to finish, or did you drop out when you fell. There is an ole saying that goes like this "winners focus on winning and losers focus on winners". What we often forget is what category we fall into. We were born to win, the only thing that blocks that is if we quit. Quitting is a learned behavior. There are times that your sphere of influence, your circle of friends, inform you when you should close shop and go home. Losing is painful, no doubt about it, but not near as painful as quitting. As difficult as this sounds most people you are surrounded by do not desire for you to be a winner. That goes for you as well, do you lift people up or push them down?
Leadership is a term that gets thrown around in just about every spectrum we enter. Churches preach it, businesses talk it, families need it, basically everyone searches for that roll model they can follow. Here in lies an interesting perspective, to be a leader, you have to have followers, and followers will only follow those people that inspire them. That inspiration can be positive or negative and sometimes knowing the difference is what determines if you win or lose.
Let's assume you are in the race of your life. It may not be a race you chose to be in but never the less you are in it. On lap ten you find out that the chemo didn't work, the investment failed, a loved one died, you lost your job, your relationships in peril, it's safe to say you fell down. This is where we find out how powerful and loving our God really is. All the sudden we find the ability to get up and go the extra mile. We never understood the strength in us until we had to tap into it. When not faced with a tenth lap slip we struggle to stay close to the leaders, but when we fall and our back is against the wall, we choose. If you can look up we can get up and if we can get up we can resume the race of our life.
Never let anyone tell you to stay down. If you are breathing your race is not complete. Mo Farah fell, Mo Farah got up, Mo Farah won the race. Was he special? NO not at all, he is as human as you and I. He was running a different race than we are yet the dynamics are much the same. Be a follower of leaders that never quit and more than that be a leader that attracts followers because you never quit.
Life is worth the effort to get up when you fall. The pain may be unbearable and all hope may seem lost, but something strange happens when you get up and get back in the race. God proves to you that you truly were born with the ability to make a difference. No matter what you are facing, whether it's an addiction, identity problems, self esteem, bankrupt, heart broke, cast out, left out, beat down, or whatever, GET UP and get moving. What makes you a winner in the race of life isn't what place you finish in, it is the fact that you got up when you fell and still crossed the finish line. Your life matters, never forget that, you are good enough, believe it, and God does have a blessing with your name on it, CLAIM IT.
peace and love
Dale
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