Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, does earning it matter? This is prompted by a really interesting opinion piece I read in the Wall Street Journal by Matthew Hennessy called talent alone doesn't win Medals. And Hennessy's argument is basically this. he's making the point that in the Olympic athletes, of course, it's the season right now, right, who are winning medals at the Olympic Games don't win that through talent alone. To be an Olympic athlete requires so much of a person. It does require talent, but it also requires grit and discipline. You have to work relentlessly. Think about what you eat, think about how you sleep, how you. How you exercise, how you pursue it. You're trying to become the best in the world. Everyone at the Olympics has talent. What separates is the people who do the work. And Hennessy says that's why, at least in his mind, when you listen to Olympic athletes who win talk about America, they love America. They are effusive in their praise for their country. A great example of this is Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal for the men's Olympic hockey team, winning gold for the first time in. In 46 years. And relentlessly. When a reporter was talking to him about his individual accomplishment, he kept saying, this is not about me. It's not about our team. It's about our country. I love our country. And Hennessy makes a really interesting comparison between Olympic athletes and Hollywood elites. He says, if you notice, Hollywood elites, who tend to get where they are based off looks and raw charisma and talent are very negative when it comes to America. They are seemingly incredibly ungrateful for the country that has provided them the opportunity. And the point Hennessy makes is that earning it and talent lead to two very different perspectives. What we accomplish simply off of talent does not produce gratitude for others, but what we accomplish through hard work does. That's because the harder we work, the more we realize how hard everyone else around us had to work, the more we realize how dependent we were on the environment and the people who helped us get where we're going. I think this is such an important point because, I think there are lessons here for our own careers, our own lives, and even our parenting. listen, the writer of Proverbs says this in Proverbs 14:23, all hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to Poverty. I think the principle here is this, we need to continue to push ourselves in the direction that. Not of what we're able to accomplish merely by our giftedness, not what we can accomplish in coast mode, but areas of our lives where grit and discipline are required to achieve. Because in that crucible, true character is formed. When I think about my kids, I think there are certain things that all my kids are good at individually, they're just naturally good. One's good at school, one's good at sports, one's good at music. They're just naturally gifted in that way. And they're going to always tend to gravitate towards those things, and that's okay. But the job of a parent isn't just to affirm that giftedness. It's to push them to achieve and accomplish in areas where either they're not naturally gifted or to push their natural giftedness to another level through hard work. That's because people who learn to attack problems, to say no to themselves, to challenge themselves to be better, become people other people want to be around, become people who can lead, who can accomplish change, people who can be a net positive in the world. But people who coast eventually that mere talk to borrow from, proverbs, is going to lead to poverty, if not financial poverty, poverty of character, poverty of spirit. So the question is whether or not we're pushing ourselves to be more like actors coasting by, or like athletes who, through perseverance and discipline, challenge themselves to do more. So think about your, your own day, how you interact with your kids, how you interact with those you work with. Where are you challenging yourself? And here's an encouragement. If you are a parent, name that out loud. Go around the table tonight at dinner and say, hey, what's one thing that each one of us wants to try to accomplish this year that won't be easy. That will be hard. And what's your plan to get there? And how can we encourage you to get there? Because at the end of the year, if you have athletes, using that metaphorically, who can look back at grit and discipline, whether it is an instrument or a classroom or kindness or servanthood, you're going to have someone who can actually help us get to a better place in this world. All hard work brings a profit, even if that profit is gratitude, which, let's be honest, the world could use more of. Congratulations to Jack Hughes and all the other American Olympians who were successful and even those who weren't, because in the end, they have challenged themselves to be and do more. And they are themselves a, challenge to us for a little grit, a little discipline, and a little more gratitude. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!