Perception of Reality
Just Because You Fail in any One Domain, That Does Not Mean You are Spiritually Lazy
I am going to own this right off the bat. I struggle with right thinking. I seek clarity and improvement, and though I can sometimes hit the ball, my ability to play doesn’t rise to even minor league status.
In a bit of insight today, I accept this may not mean I what I think it means.
Shout out to Aubrey Marcus
In a podcast I viewed today, I was given this nice little bit of information that unlocked something. This is not something new, precisely. I have struggled with it a long time. For example, as a child I would discuss problems with Sunday school teachers, we attended Church of Christ, and I was told, in no uncertain terms, “you’re not praying hard enough.” That advice was consistent until I quit church at age 18.
When it comes to spirituality, many people, like way too many people, equate success in any domain as being square with the Universe. Aubrey reminded me this is not true. I am not a Lebron James. There is no training in the world that will help me overcome my genetic limitations sufficiently to compete. I have had chronic asthma since birth. I am not athletic. The reason people winning the gold medal are celebrated is because they accomplished something most people can’t, by definition. It’s not just discipline, or self-talk, or radical social support and encouragement that makes Olympians, but those do play in. A human locked in a cage from birth, their potential is severely restricted. People can survive adversity, even rise to imaginary heights, but statistically, the odds are against that, by definition. Don’t stop selling the message that people can overcome, but we could also do more to eliminate extreme adversity. It’s not that champions are favored by God, or they prayed better or more or harder, or more efficiently, or less selfishly.
We should celebrate more people like the Kenyan runner, Simon Cheprot, that gave up a gold to help a fellow competitor reach the finish line. May he never be forgotten.
I had some music talent, as evidence by being awarded a music scholarship at UTSA. I had some training at the piano by Merna Von Nimitz, music director at…
