Courage
Sport brings a host of uncertainties and pressures. Elite athletes desire to compete at their highest level at all times, always improving their personal record and top performance in every workout, practice and competition. Elite athletes often demand from themselves steady improvement and visible progress that comes in a linear fashion. These expectations are unrealistic and bring added pressure, fear, and sometimes a feeling of loneliness and isolation.
How can an athlete compete with courage when they feel afraid and alone?
The truth is that fear and loneliness are normal human experiences. These unwelcome emotions are part of the human condition. Every person and, therefore, every athlete experiences these feelings. The difference is that we don't all feel them at the same time, over the same things, or with the same intensity.
Therefore, courage is not the absence of fear and loneliness. Rather, courage is having strength in the midst of fear and loneliness.
For the Christian athlete, courage can come from the truth that God is with you in every circumstance. We can find courage when we feel afraid and alone, because God is present in our most difficult times. We aren't actually alone. In our weakness, God is the source of our strength. Our feelings and emotions, while very real and valid, do not always remind ourselves of the full truth.
Take a look at this scripture:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want….
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff shall comfort me.
-Psalm 23:1,4
We can find great encouragement that the Lord is with us, when we walk through the valley; the Lord comforts us in the valley.. God allows difficulty, suffering, fear, and loneliness to enter our lives. Each of us deeply feels these effects of living in this broken world. However, the promise that we can cling to, is that in the midst of the valley, in the middle of the challenge, God is with us. May this truth give you courage in the midst of fear and loneliness.