With a Child's Heart

I watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics Women's Gymnastic Competition with a bit of skepticism, a measure of curiosity and a whole lot of amateur athletic analysis. As much as I tried, I simply could not convince myself that several of those tumbling tykes on the Chinese team were teenagers. I was anticipating that somewhere along the line someone was going to voice a concern or raise a protest, so I wasn't at all surprised when I heard that there was going to be an investigation into the actual ages of these extremely small and young looking competitors.

As I watched the competition dwindle down to just a few teams vying for medal placement, the age issue began to intrigue me more and more. I'm certain that there would be some who would question "What's the bid deal?" Besides being younger lighter and possibly more flexible, what other advantage would these young(er) girls have? As I continued to watch the match I began to witness what I believe to be the answer to my question.

I watched as the American Team made mistakes and seemed to be unable to move on from that point, continuing to make even more simple but costly mistakes. In comparison a few of the members of the Chinese Team made a mistake or two but overall they didn't seem phased by it at all and eventually they went on to claim the Gold Medals.

My final analysis is that the younger girls apparently took a different approach or saw things differently than their older peers/competitors. They weren't without mistakes, they just seemed to get over it quicker. The very young Chinese Team seemed to be focused only on performing, whereas the American Team on the other hand, seemed to be weighed down with pressure of team injuries, winning and trying to overcome their mistakes.

I know that this is just my cluttered thinking, but there may be something to this notion. Children see things differently, especially innocent children. Unless someone has given them reason not too, children are usually hopeful and generous. They can find something good in people that we adults would just as easily throw out with the trash.

From a Spiritual aspect there is merit to approaching life with a "child's heart". In the Gospel there is a passage where Jesus' zealous followers question Jesus about who will be the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus catches them all off guard when He sees a young child in the crowd, calls the child over to stand by Him and then he addresses the crowd. He tells them that the truth is, anyone who doesn't change and become like the little child, they will never even see the Kingdom of Heaven. He goes on to clarify that the Greatest in the Kingdom will be those who can humble themselves like a child in this lifetime.

My analysis of the Women's Gymnastic Competition eventually led to me questioning my own approach to life, looking for that moment in time when I joined the ranks of the "adults" and became consumed with winning, consumed with success and all of the other really important things adults are supposed to be consumed with. I can't quite determine when I crossed over, but one thing is for sure I am going to try my best to go back there...back to approaching life with heart of a child.