A Beautiful Picture of Contentment

I saw a beautiful picture of contentment in a recent interview with Alysa Liu. When asked about her lightheartedness during the Olympics, she said she was just glad to be there. As though nothing that happened after mattered. At that point it was just skating, which she’d liked before, then lost, then loved more than anything else.

At that point, it was just skating.

As a former snowboarder, I know a thrill or two. I’ve never been to the Olympics, but I know what it’s like to love an activity. What started as a crucible of suffering became a freedom and joy like the light of life.

My early days snowboarding spent a considerable time on the side of the hill, falling. Through practice I learned to fly.

Alysa’s story reminds me of Matthew 6 and the call from Jesus for us to be anxious for nothing. Alysa wasn’t anxious because her perspective prioritized gratitude and simplicity. In the order of Olympic skating, she’d bought her ticket through effort and was glad to be let in to enjoy the reward of skating on the Olympic stage. No higher honor could be granted to her kind. Should she receive that gift with scorn or second guessing?

Someone who is grateful has recognized the gift given to them to have value. There is no braking with them. It is good, and we’ve got gas. Let’s go!

The ungrateful one is stuck questioning buttons incorrectly. Imagine a bird named Larry who doesn’t fly because he’s convinced he’s a toad. Don’t be a Larry the bird-toad. You’ll go nowhere and get nothing of value.

Instead, be a kingdom seeking awesome bird. You’ve been given wings and the breath of life. Get up and fly!

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. — Matthew 6:25-34

Did you read those words of Jesus imagining the freedom of being a bird in the air? The birds don’t go about worrying over their dinner. They’ll get it. Larry won’t, but the smart ones will. He’s too busy trying, and failing, to be God. I’ll be a toad or I’ll be nothing.

I’ve been Larry every time I’ve been upset that God would include chronic pain as part of my journey to glory. I’ll be a healthy bird or I’ll be nothing.

God sits in the seat of Director. He is the one who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). When we’re being a Larry, we try to uphold the world by our power. We’ll fail, eventually, because we weren’t created to be bird-toads any more than we were created to be God’s assistant. Boy, if I don’t remind God to attend his 9:00 AM meeting with my boss, He might forget… and then we’ll all be cooked.

No. God rejects that anxiety as unfruitful and unuseful for one who should only be seeking whatever God wants for His kingdom. If God wants me to suffer for His sake, then I will do so simply glad to be an Olympian who honors the King I skate for.

Alysa saw the Olympics as the reassurance that she had been cared for. She put in the work; she paid for her ticket. Like that feeling of entering an amusement park, with the ticket recognized and entry granted, all that’s left is to have fun!

That’s how the Kingdom of Heaven is by the blood of our Savior, shed for sinners, received by faith that it paid for the price required when we sinned and earned the wrath of God.

If you’ve been forgiven, you are already in the Kingdom. Go forth and fly in Jesus. You might be surprised how much better you skate when you focus on being the skater and not the Ruler of All, questioning if this ice will really hold when we give it our full weight. Be grateful for your life and believe that God has given you what you need to skate the best day of your life.

Jesus saying not to worry about tomorrow is like that, just skating for the day. The stage is already set. Don’t worry about the next rink. This one is open and ready to enjoy.

Alysa skating for the love of skating is how we should consider living with a Kingdom first mindset. We love what God loves and want more of it. “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). Propitiation means removal of wrath. Believers in Jesus are already in the Olympics, already in the Kingdom of Heaven, because this work is complete. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” This life is just the skate we get to show God how grateful we are to be so free right now.