More than anything else, the Olympics seem to highlight the
importance of family. Grandparents, mothers and fathers gather at the ropes to
cheer on their sons and daughters lifting banners of encouragement high above
their heads. Brothers and sisters, husbands and wives embrace one another in
tears, celebrating victory and comforting one another in defeat.
Who could not be moved by the images of Alpine Skier Bode
Miller’s wife, Morgan, tenderly encouraging and comforting him as he sought to
medal in his third Olympics? Or the
convulsion of tears that gripped him when he won the bronze and remembered his
brother who died?
The Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters won gold and silver in
the moguls on the second day, and two
days later the Dutch twins, Michel and Ronald Mulder, took home both the gold
and the bronze medals in men’s speed
skating. And where would figure skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White be without their moms?
Noell Pikus-Pace competed in the Women’s Skeleton, an event
in which athletes plummet head-first down the luge track reaching speeds up to
80 mph. I will remember her, not so much because she won the silver, but
because of her joy as a mother for her children and her love for her husband,
who encouraged her to return to Olympic competition after she miscarried a
third child.
And, I will remember the Canadian free skier, Alex Bilodeau,
who won gold in the moguls. As soon as Alex knew he had won the gold he looked
for one person, his brother, Frederic who suffers from cerebral palsy. Finding
his brother, he wrapped his arms around him and dragged him over the ropes to
celebrate his victory.
Asked about
his action, Alex explained, “It's crazy the motivation that he takes and every step is very hard for
him. In life, I have an easy path and I need to go out there and do the best I
can just out of respect to him. … he’s my everyday inspiration.”
Most of us
will live obscure lives of virtual anonymity, but in our families no one is
obscure or anonymous. Each one is important.
The Bible says, ‘He places the solitary in families.” (Psalm
68:6). The Bible is a family book. It starts with Adam and Eve, continues with
Noah, traces God’s redemption through Abraham and culminates in the child Jesus
swaddled in the arms of Mary and Joseph.
Jesus expanded the importance of family when he said, “Everyone who does
the will of my Father who sent me is my brother, sister and mother.”
Like Jesus, we too can expand our families to include others. We can embrace the young as our sons and daughters, the old as our mothers and fathers. We can embrace the stranger as our brother and sister. What an amazing world it would be if each of us saw one another as family.
Most of us will never be Olympians, but each of us can
celebrate what is better than gold or silver.
We can celebrate the relationships God gives us. We can be there for each other, encouraging,
cheering each other on and comforting one another whenever tragedy
strikes. We can bind up each other’s wounds
and exhort each other to a higher plane.
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