I love that time when the fam is gathered around the TV to watch the best in the world, compete in the Olympics. We’re all chanting ‘U.S.A.’ and cheering on people we don’t actually know as they excel in their athletic events. In those moments it seems as though we can share in their emotions of joy, and disappointment. We can sit from the other side of a screen and feel their emotions. I think that’s an aspect that makes it special. We feel for them when all the hard work they’ve done doesn’t pan out on the big stage. And we feel the elation as they burst into smiles knowing that all those hours were worth the pain.
It’s to no surprise that track is one of my favorite events to watch. It truly is incredible what the human body can endure, and how an individual can rise once put to the test. This phenomena goes for all sports not just track, but track is definitely how Jesus speaks to me most.
The 800m finals were up next and the first thing I said was, ” I can’t wait to watch the finals, they’re so exciting!” I immediately stopped and thought did ‘I just say that?’ If you know nothing about me, know this; I HATED RUNNING THE 800. If there ever was a bane to my existence it was the 800. It terrified me to no end, and it never got easier to step on the start line. I would run 4-5 800 races in a season, and every time my coach would say, “You know it’s going to hurt but you have to be willing to die.” Let me tell ya, it was something I was never willing to do. Even though I knew the pain was inevitable, it didn’t make it any easier.
*Bang
Starting gun goes off, and the women’s olympic 800 runners are off. We watch as a girl gets boxed in and we immediately scream, “GET AROUND!” If you’re a runner, you know there’s nothing worse than getting boxed in. You have to tactfully figure out how to get from behind the person in front of you, and move around the person on the side of you. The girl immediately changes her stride and escapes from the prison of bodies surrounding her, and gives herself a fair chance to compete. My family takes a sigh of relief and then continues to cheer for the U.S. Immediately in my mind I’m taken back to a moment where I’m racing at Colorado School of Mines. I can clearly hear my coach telling me to ‘get around.’ My perfect opportunity to break free comes along, and I hesitate. Why?
So many times in my life I feel like I’m too much. I listen to the people who tell me; “Alisha your hair is too curly” or it’s ‘ghetto’ in a fro, I’m too tall, I’m too feely, and my personal favorite I’m way too loud. People are constantly trying to put me in a space to fit the description of who they think I should be. They wanted me to fit into this box they created, fitted with chains to keep me where I was ‘supposed to be’. They wanted to keep me behind someone else who would determine the pace of my race, when God was telling me, GET AROUND. In a split second everything changes; do I stay, or go? Do I let them control my choices, when I know the one who created my destiny? The very greatness that lies inside of me because of what Jesus did not just for me, but for all of us is waiting to come to life. I can step back, get from behind that situation and STEP OUT. I can kick on the gas, and embrace the true freedom that lies in Jesus. I can be the girl with who loves too much in a tall way. I can be the girl with the crazy curly fro, and most importantly I can be the girl whose loud voice carries into the next room. God didn’t create me and say,
” Wow I really wish she would lay off using the gifts I gave her.” NO!
He’s the one telling me I don’t have to live my life in the shadows of what other people think or say. He’s the one saying I created you to be bold, and priceless. He didn’t say my body wouldn’t hurt like hell, or that my mind wouldn’t be racing trying to make a decision to move. The only thing he gave me is this: There is promise in the pain. There is freedom in the fight, if I would only embrace Him.
If I had known how much it would mean to me that my coach always told me to get around, I think I would’ve listened to her sooner. Stepping out if a funny thing. It’s the one thing that holds us back and once we overcome it, we find it wasn’t so bad after all, or that it was worth all the yucky stuff that came with it. I think once we listen to Him, all he has to say is, “You really went for it, and I’m proud of you. You gave yourself a chance to run the race set before you.” Never underestimate the power of a small step in the right direction. We can usher in a breakthrough from the brokenness through the one who truly gives us strength to be exactly who we were meant to be. It’s a great thing to be unapologetically YOU through Christ. Becoming who we are meant to be is nothing that we can accomplish on our own, and if given the choice, I wouldn’t want to do it alone. It’s the people you bleed for that mean the most to you in the end, so wouldn’t you want someone who bled for you too?
I love you all.
Best,
Alisha Allen
