“Rachel has been chosen to go to State with the top runners in Cross Country!” my daughter, Amy, told me over the phone the other night. Wow! My 12-year-old granddaughter has really discovered her talent! It was only a few weeks ago that she was invited to try out for the team, and now she is excelling as a champion!
"Will you go with her?" I asked Amy, since she said the event was 5 hours away. She said they would go to the meet, (but Rachel informed her she wouldn't ride with her family, but go on the bus with her friends, because they would stay at a hotel and stop at Chik-Fila on their way back.)
I called Miss Rachel to congratulate her last night. It was past six, an hour later, their time, and she was just getting picked up from school by her mom. “We had a run tonight, Mimi,” Rachel bubbled. “I got a ribbon! I was #15,” she went on.
15 out of 200 isn’t bad, I knew. “The top 10 got a medal, but the top 20 got ribbons,” she explained. She didn’t sound disappointed at all, but very chipper and excited. I found out why a few minutes later.
“Mimi, I was the only one to improve on my personal record!” Rachel announced proudly. She told me she had beaten her previous best by several minutes (or seconds, maybe). “And my homeroom teacher, who is the track coach, asked me to join track!” I had thought it was the same thing as Cross Country, but apparently not.
“Track will be much easier running, but more competitive,” Amy explained. Running on a short oval or track would be simpler than the hills and woods of Cross Country, I realized. I congratulated our little runner again.
I was glad Rachel seemed more thrilled about beating her own record than winning over someone else. It reminded me that as Christians, we are not to compare ourselves to other Christians, but to strive to be better than we are. To grow in grace, as Paul said in II Peter 3:15.
Many times in the Bible our life is compared to a race. In II Timothy 4:7, Paul says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (race), I have kept the faith.” In Psalm 119:32, the psalmist says, “I will run the way (course) of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.”
I read once that the reason the Grand Prix winning cyclist, Lance Armstrong, has so much endurance is because his heart is one-third larger than normal. Lord, give us a heart with a great capacity to show forth your love to others, and may we always improve our own personal record!
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