“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Jesus Christ
This week, Simone Biles dazzled the world with her talent winning the individual all-around gold medal in gymnastics at the ongoing Olympic games in Rio. Numerous sources are already calling the three-time world champion the greatest gymnast that ever lived. She even has her own signature move named after her, the Biles. Yet she is only 19 years old!
As a student of life, every time I see a great champion like Simone Biles I look back into their lives to see what is the source of their greatness. How is the champion made? Without fail, every I look, I find that even though each one of them is gifted and talented in their area of success, their success is not simply because of their talent alone. You can always find people in the world with as much or greater talent that haven’t accomplished as much.
I’m not alone, many good observers of life, past and present have reported the same findings over and over throughout history. Talent is not enough. In other words, talent is necessary but not sufficient.
Here is a clue I found about what has made Simone potentially the greatest female gymnast of all time.
From Heavy,
From GK Elite,
To become a champion in an area,
- You need talent, but talent is not enough.
- You need passion, but passion is not enough.
- You need a great strategy, but strategy is not enough.
A champion is made when discipline and generosity meet talent, passion, and a great strategy.
To be the champion that she is today, Simone has had to make tough choices and be sacrificially generous with the way she gave her life to the sport of gymnastics. She has sacrificed both her life and her physical body to the sports. There are physical consequences to the training she has to undergo. No athlete competes at that level without significant injury to their body along the way. Like every champion, she has the scars to show for it. She has given up much of her life to the sport. There is nothing else she has given to as much she has given to the sport of gymnastics. Those who are the most generous to their area of giftedness and talent often end up being rewarded as champions. Their stardom and gold medals are the reward that life gives them for their amazing generosity to the sport or their area of endeavor.
Want to be a champion? First, find your area of giftedness, talent, and passion. Then, give yourself to it with complete focus and dedication. Be the most generous person to that area of calling than anyone else and you will absolutely be rewarded with stardom. Be careful not to pick an area for which you have no giftedness, talent, and passion. We cannot simply become whatever we want to be. We can certainly become whatever our gifts and talents will allow us. For example, no matter how hard I try, I probably wouldn’t be successful at playing in the NBA if I am only four feet tall. It will be extremely difficult to do. Life is too short for anyone to try to work hard to become the best at something they have no giftedness or talent for. I probably also wouldn’t become as good a singer as Celine Dionne. Yet, there are many things that my talents allow me to become great at.
The Nazarene was absolutely right when he said, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Simone Biles has given everything she has to the game of gymnastics. This week, the world is giving back to her in the same way. She is winning gold medals and receiving the adoration of her country and the world. And millions of dollars in endorsement and advertisement deals are waiting for her when she returns home. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. That’s the law of sowing and reaping. It is a universal law. You always reap what you sow. You always reap where you sowed. And you always reap more than you sowed. If you plant one grain of corn, you will harvest hundreds or thousands of them. If you sow forgiveness, you will receive forgiveness. If you sow love, you will receive love.
