peaking

We love the defying-the-odds stories, stories of second and third chances.

The true stories of athletes craftily finding ways to still compete (here, here, & here, for example). 

 

The true story of professional ballerina Wendy Whelan, who brilliantly kept on performing years past the typical age of ballerinas.

Or the true story of pro boxer George Foreman. He lost his boxing championship to Muhammad Ali at his peak physical condition of 25 years old...

then retired soon after, totally left the profession for 10 years...

...but regained the same boxing championship, about 20 years after losing to Ali.

 

Not just athletes, of course.

There's the true story of singer Mavis Staples, all of 71 years old when she won her inaugural Grammy ... even though she'd received her first Grammy nomination four (!!) decades earlier. 

I could go on with more examples. 

There's a reason we gravitate to these stories. It encourages us to hear examples of triumph with people who succeeded, despite not being at what we might presume is their peak condition.

For me, these true stories relieve me. I hope they relieve you as well.

 

They remind me that should an opportunity come my way, and even if I KNOW I'm not at my best, there still could be a way to work it out. It's a relief to remember that I can still have off days. 

 

You can have off days as well. Doesn't mean all is lost.

We don't know when our chances will come with whatever God would have us pursuing.

And yes, of course: we should try to make much of whatever chances we're given. But it's false to believe that we're gonna blow it unless we're at our absolute best.

Real-life examples remind us this isn't true. Real-life examples from ancient times and places remind us this isn't true.

So this is why I love stories of a near 50-year-old champ, a quinquagenarian ballerina, or a 71-year-old Grammy winner. No doubt they were not as sharp as their younger selves. 

 

Mavis's voice couldn't lilt about the higher notes like it once could. 

 

Wendy's joints required more upkeep than her 23-year-old self. 

 

Big George couldn't bounce around the boxing ring as deftly as his younger self.

They weren't at their peak. But they were still good enough for when the opportunity came. 

Whew.

 

you can't do everything

A few years back, the Avett Brothers wrote a gem of song called 'Ill With Want' that features this truth-spitting lyric (starting at 2:18 until 2:58):

"Temporary is my time
Ain't nothin' on this world that's mine
Except the will I found to carry on
Free is not your right to choose
It's answering what's asked of you
To give the love you find until it's gone" (I added the underlining)

I appreciate this description of what it means to be 'free'. Because freedom as some no-strings-attached, tabula rasa reality isn't how life works. Freedom inherently contains both limits and possibilities. 

That's a grace for us.

It turns out that most of life's choices include both limits and possibilities, in tandem.

To choose ... to move to a new city for college, grad school, or a job means accepting the limits of not living in other, equally-as-awesome places. Those are real limits. But it also allows some freedoms. It allows for freedom to put down some roots in one particular place. We could only pursue such freedoms after accepting the real limits of being in one place at one time.

To choose ... to invest in a relationship with one person (or one group of friends) means accepting some limits to the time and energy required to also befriend other people. That can be hard. And yet, it makes possible the freedom of getting to know deeply one person (or one community). That sort of possibility only works while accepting some limits.

To choose ...  take a nap means accepting that (for the duration of that nap) you're limited in doing anything else. It's impossible -- while napping -- to finish homework, to chat with friends, brush your teeth, or play that video game. But there's a freedom in rest, because we're created to need rest. The only way to that freedom of rest is through accepting the limits a quality nap imposes.

From time to time, we'll face good choices of how to use our time and resources. Sometimes the choices are easy. Sometimes, the choices are harder.

But we gotta choose. It's impossible to truly say 'yes' to some stuff without saying 'no' to other stuff.

Choices. Limits. Possibilities. Freedoms.

Optional Prayer: Lord, help me choose wisely with whatever I might choose. Help me choose how to respond gracefully to unfair criticism, how to devote my time, how to care for others, how to love in harder times, how to love in easier times. At night, help me choose to put the phone down, and go to sleep. Help me choose to share my anxieties with you. Help me choose to respond to others respectfully when I want to respond harshly. Help me choose to see the dignity in how others are made in your image, especially those with whom I disagree. Thank you for not making it impossible to do everything -- I don't admit it much, but I actually don't like too many options. It's way too overwhelming.