Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Most of us were watching and holding our breath when Michael Phelps won the 200m Butterfly during the 2008 Olympics. When he pulled up his goggles and water fell from them, unbelief filled the air. I am not a swimmer but I know the effects of water filled goggles. Right then I knew I had to know more about this incredible swimmer and athlete.
Michael met his Coach, Bob Bowman, at age 11. Coach Bowman knew he had someone special from the get-go. In his wisdom he knew he needed to stretch and test Michael to help him reach his full potential. In 2003 at the Melbourne World Cup, Bowman purposely stepped on Michael's only pair of goggles. Just before the race Michael told him that someone had broke his goggles, Bowman's reply, "You're just gonna have to go without them". Michael could have been mad, he could have ranted and raved and refused to swim, but he didn't. He swam and he gained the confidence to know he could swim without goggles. How did this coach know that during the 2008 Olympics Michael's goggles would fill with water? He didn't, but he did know that Michael needed to be prepared for anything and that it was his job to prepare him.
How similar this is to our Heavenly Father. He knows our potential and is preparing us daily to win our race and return to live with Him. Do we realize the trials that are placed before us are to prepare us? Do we take the attitude Michael did and do our best or do we complain and whine that it is too hard. I can name many times when it felt like my goggles had been stepped on. What if we saw how carefully planned out our life was, by a loving Heavenly Father that only wants us to win, so that He can hold us in His arms again?
In an interview with Craig Lord*, Bowman said this about Michael, "He always had a very good sense of finding where he wants to go and how to go there." In an interview with David Walsh*, Michael stated, "When I'm focused, there's not one single thing that can stand in my way. Never has been. If I want something bad enough, then I'm gonna get there. That's how I have always been." What a blessing this determination could be in our own lives. With an eye single to returning to our Heavenly Father (3 Nephi 13:22, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/13/22c ). Could we ask for a better coach?!
As I look back on those moments when it seemed my goggles lay broken beyond repair, I can now see the loving work of my Heavenly Father. With His tender mercies I was brought thru it and taught: Yes, you can live thru even that. Now is the time to determine that we will face adversity with the same courage and submissiveness as Michael Phelps so that we can reach out and touch that finish line and win the race, even if our goggles are filled with water!
*The Times, Craig Lord 8/22/08
*The Sunday Times, David Walsh, 8/17/08
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Most of us were watching and holding our breath when Michael Phelps won the 200m Butterfly during the 2008 Olympics. When he pulled up his goggles and water fell from them, unbelief filled the air. I am not a swimmer but I know the effects of water filled goggles. Right then I knew I had to know more about this incredible swimmer and athlete.
Michael met his Coach, Bob Bowman, at age 11. Coach Bowman knew he had someone special from the get-go. In his wisdom he knew he needed to stretch and test Michael to help him reach his full potential. In 2003 at the Melbourne World Cup, Bowman purposely stepped on Michael's only pair of goggles. Just before the race Michael told him that someone had broke his goggles, Bowman's reply, "You're just gonna have to go without them". Michael could have been mad, he could have ranted and raved and refused to swim, but he didn't. He swam and he gained the confidence to know he could swim without goggles. How did this coach know that during the 2008 Olympics Michael's goggles would fill with water? He didn't, but he did know that Michael needed to be prepared for anything and that it was his job to prepare him.
How similar this is to our Heavenly Father. He knows our potential and is preparing us daily to win our race and return to live with Him. Do we realize the trials that are placed before us are to prepare us? Do we take the attitude Michael did and do our best or do we complain and whine that it is too hard. I can name many times when it felt like my goggles had been stepped on. What if we saw how carefully planned out our life was, by a loving Heavenly Father that only wants us to win, so that He can hold us in His arms again?
In an interview with Craig Lord*, Bowman said this about Michael, "He always had a very good sense of finding where he wants to go and how to go there." In an interview with David Walsh*, Michael stated, "When I'm focused, there's not one single thing that can stand in my way. Never has been. If I want something bad enough, then I'm gonna get there. That's how I have always been." What a blessing this determination could be in our own lives. With an eye single to returning to our Heavenly Father (3 Nephi 13:22, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/13/22c ). Could we ask for a better coach?!
As I look back on those moments when it seemed my goggles lay broken beyond repair, I can now see the loving work of my Heavenly Father. With His tender mercies I was brought thru it and taught: Yes, you can live thru even that. Now is the time to determine that we will face adversity with the same courage and submissiveness as Michael Phelps so that we can reach out and touch that finish line and win the race, even if our goggles are filled with water!
*The Times, Craig Lord 8/22/08
*The Sunday Times, David Walsh, 8/17/08
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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