Each of us is endowed with innate resources that enable us to achieve all we have ever dreamed of. This ability to endure takes many forms – the Olympic Games for example, bears ultimate testimony to physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual endurance, as athletes push the edge of the envelope and touch their dreams.

 

Human experience can call on us to endure great hardships and pain – whether we live in a country ravaged by war and poverty, or whether we are just trying to survive the day-to-day challenges of putting food on the table, providing shelter for our families, or trying to find employment.

The Choices We Make

How we deal with adversity shapes our lives more than almost anything else.

After suffering severe burns on his legs at the age of five, Glenn Cunningham was given up by doctors as a hopeless cripple who would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

His family was told than he would never be able to walk again. The doctors examined their young patient and gave their prognosis, but they had no way of looking into Glenn Cunningham’s heart.

Lying in bed with skinny, red legs covered with horrific scar tissue, Glenn vowed: ‘I’m going to get out of bed. I’m going to walk’. And he did just that.

This young, courageous boy would reach up and take hold of an old plough in the yard. With a hand on each handle, he would make his gnarled and twisted legs move.

And with every step of pain, he came closer to walking. Soon he began to trot, and before long he was running. When he started to run, he became even more determined.

‘I always believed that I could walk again and I did. Now I’m going to run faster than anybody has ever run’. And he did.

He became a great miler who, in 1934, set the world’s record of 4:06.8, and was honoured as the outstanding athlete of the century at Madison Square Garden.

We learn from this story that although we cannot always control the events in our lives, we can always control our response to them, and the actions we take as a result.

The Endurance of Love

There is also a spiritual component to endurance. When we hold onto our highest visions of truth and love, we are able to endure great tribulations.

Think of great leaders like Nelson Mandela, who endured 27 years of imprisonment; Mahatma Ghandi, who sat down to hold back an army with love and non-violence; or Mother Teresa, who endured years of poverty as she gave unconditionally to others.

We need to remember that endurance is not about just carrying on and on without cessation. With the rite of endurance the light, love and strength of our Spirits becomes activated – we are forged by the hardships of the journey, so that when we arrive at our destination we are strong, potent, tough and resilient.

With love and determination anything is possible.

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gsport Newsroom

gsport Newsroom

Launched in 2006, gsport exists to enhance the commercial prospects of our women athletes, and other women in sport, by telling the inspiring story of SA women in sport. Thank you for your contribution!

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