So, I learned a little
something about God giving us free will
while watching the
Olympics last night. The finals of the 30m platform diving was on, and the TV spin machine was pitting the 15 year old
Chinese diver
against the much older
American diver. Now of course, there has been some press about the
Chinese gymnasts and their age, but what
stretch my
mind every time is when the sport expert, the commentator hired by the network, discusses the training of
many of the
Chinese athletes, no matter what age. They talk with glee, almost
jealously, about how
Chinese children, once they are determined to be of correct body type and ability, are taken from their families at ages of 3 and 4, placed in government run sports
prisions, and trained
relentlessly for years
until they reach
optional performance
capability. Hence the pressure to have under aged girls compete in the gymnastics. They were at there scientific peak, and in four more years would be no good to the country, there for they must compete now. a little photo shop and and we have "
official Chinese passports." Any way, these
commentators are so caught up in
competition and
their own little sport, they fail
miserably to see the larger picture. Flash to the
American diver, making her last
competition dives of her
career. she was grinning ear to ear before every jump. and when her last belly flop was done, tears ran down her face with the emotion of having ended her
career. Now, the
Chinese diver did take first and the
American not so much, but look at the larger picture. This little girl, taken from her family, drilled and trained not to let her country down or she would be a failure for life, performed a robotic and
technically perfect series of dives, and won. The
American was trying just as hard, but basking in the joy of doing what you love and eating up the moment for all it was worth. The gold
medalist had to scrape the smile off of her face, because that would not be
acceptable for her country,
while the
American let her emotions flow. It really made me realise how much free will means to us as humans when it comes to God. Yes, he could have indoctrinated us with unfailing love, and we would all perform robotic and
technically perfect series of
praise and worship services on earth and then die with a gold
medal. Or he can let us come as we can, and perform not quite as well, but perform out of our hearts, and it is
beautiful. I would not trade all the gold
medals in the world that were won out of robotic obedience for just one that come from the love of the sport.
No comments:
Post a Comment