Recently I had the chance to hear Olympic Gold Medalist Shannon Miller give a presentation. It was an amazing presentation! Hearing about her training, her up’s her downs, and finally her gold medal victory was amazing! There was one part of her story that was very meaningful to me however. Shannon talked about her need to have a Gold Medal mindset if she was going to be an Olympic Champion. A mindset that had her completely focused on her goal, and dedicated to it above all other things in life. It was one Saturday Morning when this mindset revealed the true depth of dedication it required.
Shannon had just finished a 9 hour per day training session for the past 5 days. It was now a Saturday morning and time for yet another 9 hour training session. As she came down stairs, her siblings were watching TV and eating cereal like many other teens on a Saturday morning would. But Shannon was going to the gym…despite her desperate longing to eat cereal and watch TV.
This little story can really get a person thinking. Think for a moment just how dedicated many people can be to different things. Athletes to their sport, students to their studies, parents to their children. Now consider for a moment what kind of dedication is given to a person’s Faith. If someone looked at our lives, would they be able to tell from our priorities that we are people of God? Would they see a “Gold Medal Mindset” when it comes to our eternal future? Or would they see something else? These questions are not posed to judge, or make us feel guilty, but to simply remind us that while it’s great to be dedicated to great things, we can’t forget to be most dedicated to the greatest of things!