Affirmation
Hold your breath. Everyone else is. What started as a minor 100 metre freestyle heat for three non contenders has, after two disqualifications, become a solitary race against the clock and destiny.
Eric Moussambani is from Equatorial Guinea. There are no Olympic size pools in that country. Swimmers there train in the river. The coach’s main task is to drive a boat along side the swimmer to watch for crocodiles. Eric was invited to the games through a program that encourages developing countries to participate in the Olympics. And so at the starter’s buzzer, in he went.
To put things in perspective, the gold medal winner finished this race in 48.30 seconds. Eric finished the first 50 metres in 40 seconds, then things became more difficult. He never once put his head under the water and virtually came to a stop about ten metres from the end. Eventually he thrashed his way to the wall at 1:52:72. Exhausted, he pulled his body from the water to a cheering, standing ovation from the maximum capacity crowd.
“I want to send hugs and kisses to the crowd,” the French-speaking Moussambani said through an interpreter. “It was their cheering that kept me going.”
There are so many applications that can be made from this story: tenacity, steadfastness, vision, rising to the occasion.
But let’s look at what it was that kept Eric going. Encouragement. Affirmation. The cheering of the crowd. That’s what took a twenty year old African who had only been swimming since January and turned him into an Olympic hero. And the crowd didn’t just send him off with a round of applause and then become bored waiting for him to finish the race. They stayed with him until the end, concluding with a standing ovation.
Affirmation is one of the strongest motivational tools around. And once is not enough - it needs to keep going and going.
Take a look around you today. Who do you see that could use a compliment or a word of encouragement? Share some affirmation. It’s powerful stuff.
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)