Jumping life’s Olympic-sized hurdles
Mark Swinney | from the Christian Science Sentinel
We don’t use God and prayer to somehow produce perfect mortals. We use them to overcome, step by step, the whole lie of mortality. This heals.
In every Olympic Games, there are moments so striking that they remain with us vividly—even years after the closing ceremonies are over. As a child I just loved watching Kip Keino, the incredible middle- and long-distance runner from rural Kenya, who won the gold in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. Then there was the culmination of the USA’s victory over the USSR in a 1980 Olympic hockey semifinal, when the announcer exclaimed, “Do you believe in miracles?”
How about those incredible images of Russian gymnast Olga Korbut on the balance beam in the ’72 and ’76 Summer Olympics? And spectators loved watching the successes of speed skater Dan Jansen in the 1994 Winter Olympics, figure skater Sarah Hughes in the 2002 Winter Olympics, and, in the 1988 Games in Calgary, the Jamaican bobsled team, who competed well enough to come in 14th, beating both American sleds.
‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’
There’s something deeply inspiring about seeing people attain a level of performance they themselves never even thought possible. One outstanding example is 400-meter runner Sanya Richards, whom many regard as the fastest woman in the world today. She said in a recent interview: “There are so many meaningful verses to me in the Bible, but I guess the one I say to myself most often is, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!’ That’s my favorite because, on the track, I am usually trying to do things that have rarely been done before.”
Your personal best or mine may not take place in a packed Olympic stadium. But there certainly are times when we all feel we must confront and overcome Olympic-sized life trials. As many people have found, the answer is never in human reserves and strength.
Sometimes trying your absolute best simply isn’t enough. Sure, attempting a 100 percent effort is important. But what do you do when you’re just overcome by some huge hurdle—by disease, the loss of a loved one, unemployment? People in biblical times asked the same sort of questions: “For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?” (Lam. 2:13).
That’s why those Bible words Richards quoted are so moving. They point to something that can push us all the way to excellence through divine reserves and strength.
The Christ is more than just something historical, or a part of Jesus’ name. “The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health (p. 333).
This Christly identity is not something to aspire to—it is you.
The Christ is the true idea of God; and it is the foundation for the ideal identity of you and me, as God’s expression. This Christly identity is not something to aspire to—it is you from the start! It is the spiritual good that God expresses in you. Achievement is simply about bringing out more of the Christ in yourself.
We’re not limited, inconsequential mortals; we all are, by our very nature, already the brilliant, Christly creations of God. As such, our source for all ability to overcome Olympic-sized trials is limitless because of its divine source. That might involve taking a test with problems that seem insurmountable; it might be praying for healing of illness; it might be dealing with an impossible relationship issue. But no matter what it is, anyone can always turn completely to God for strength.
But it would be a mistake to think we could use God and prayer just to somehow produce perfect material versions of ourselves. God, who is infinite Spirit, does not express Himself as matter or physicality. God’s expression is spiritual. So, if we ask Him to make us into enhanced mortals, we’re asking for something He cannot give us. There is one creative force, and that is divine Spirit. Like produces like, so it makes sense that as Spirit’s creations we are perfect, and actually immortal.
We don’t need to die out of materiality. No, we live ourselves out of it.
Far more earth-shattering than any Olympic performance in history is the simple, beautiful fact that God’s man (including both the sons and daughters of God) expresses only the nature and substance of Spirit. “God cannot become finite, and be limited within material bounds. Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed through its opposite,” states Science and Health (p. 550). If Spirit cannot become matter, then how could God’s creation—Spirit’s exact reflection—grow to be a vulnerable mortal? How could the expression of something spiritual become material? It just can’t. We are always the Christly expressions of ever-present Spirit. We don’t need to die out of materiality. No, we live ourselves out of it. In other words, we can remain right where we are, recognizing more and more our identity as spiritual beings and proving our true, Christly nature right now.
“Immortal spiritual man alone represents the truth of creation,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health, p. 263). Prayer helps us overcome Olympic-sized obstacles on this basis. It brings us into an awareness of the only reality there is—God’s infinite, spiritual creation. Victory isn’t about becoming a more proficient mortal; victory is overcoming, step by step, the whole lie of mortality itself. As the old saying goes, “We’re not here to air-condition hell!” In other words, true progress and prayer aren’t about patching up or fortifying the illusion of mortality; they’re about rising higher and rejoicing in the fact of one’s present, spiritual reality.
The ideal, Christly man and woman of God’s creating is always intact, and that means you and me. Embracing this fact helps us overcome fears of inability and failure. It squelches perfectionism and pride. For an Olympic athlete, that might mean overcoming the temptation to use human growth hormones, blood doping, and drugs such as steroids.
Jesus looked to God for everything. Shouldn’t we too expect to get farther with strength from God?
Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). He looked to His Father for everything. Shouldn’t we expect to get farther with strength from God, too? We make space for God to work in us and through us. The highly successful acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges observed: “You can’t make your music good. You can’t try to be good. You can try to be present, and you can try to remain open so what is going to speak to you can speak through you.” Science and Health sheds light on this concept: “Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power” (Science and Health, p. 192).
Thought held in line with God reflects divine power and goodness. As an illustration of this, a friend of mine was undergoing some physical training that was far beyond what he thought anyone could take. Actually, with such grueling training and often a tough trainer, to say “far beyond” was an understatement. This friend quickly discovered that human strength would never suffice. He had to look beyond himself. He learned that there was incredible strength in God, who is divine Love. He realized he had to express the love of God with every move he made while training. It took focus and discipline, but he taught himself to love that tough trainer—and every moment of the training. He had to! Soon he was able to complete each day of training with dominion. Today he even looks forward to holding his thought in line with Love and drawing on divine power, moment by moment.
The Olympics in Beijing are teaching big lessons as they provide stirring images, words, and performances. The Christ, the true image of God, is behind victories over what appear as insurmountable limits. This is true for the participants, and it’s true for you and me. To look to God wholeheartedly for strength and intelligence, moment by moment, is more gratifying than all the Olympic gold medals that will ever be won.
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