Setting ambitious goals

One of my favorite Olympic stories was shared from the pulpit of my home church back in the early 1960s. I do not remember who included it in a sermon, but I’ve used it multiple times over the course of my ministry. It never has failed to inspire me.

“A gentleman, while taking his daily walk, would pass the local park. He noticed a young man throwing the shot put and so he stopped to watch. But, this young man was doing something rather curious. Instead of measuring from the throwing circle out to where the shot landed, which is the normal procedure, he would measure from a white flag back to where the shot had landed. Finally the man’s curiosity got the best of him and he asked, ‘Young man, excuse me, but aren’t you doing that wrong? Shouldn’t you be measuring from the circle out to where the shot landed?’ ‘Well, sir,’ responded the young man, ‘I would if all I wanted to know was how far I had thrown the shot. That white flag is the Olympic record and by measuring from it back to where my shot landed tells me how much further I have to go to reach my goal of being in the Olympics.”

Life is made up of various goals that we set for ourselves. Some are ambitious while others are just simple every day type goals. And then there are those “other” goals that simply cause us to stretch well beyond our natural abilities before reality sets in and we finally admit that we cannot achieve or accomplish the desired goal. But, and that is a rather large “but,” should that mean that we shouldn’t set such ambitious goals? Absolutely not – regardless of age or ability – those goals need to be ever before us… the “white flags” of our lives. After all, you will never know unless you try and isn’t that the basic building block of living – giving it your best and trying to reach the ultimate prize?

I thought about this upon hearing of the young woman ice skater from Turkey. She is the only ice skater ever from that country. She came to the Winter Olympics knowing that she didn’t have a chance of winning a metal of any color, but just skating on the Olympic ice was her goal. It was such a dream of hers that her parents literally gave up everything in Turkey to move to Canada so that she could receive the necessary training in order to be talented enough to skate at the Winter Olympics. Talk about “white flags” – you go girl!

And so it is with goals – those various “white flags” of our lives – they are there so that we can improve ourselves a little every day!

Quote for today: “Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.” David Lloyd George