To visit an athletic field and watch a relay race being run is an opportunity to learn a lesson in teamwork and successful striving. All contestants win a prize greater than the material trophy awarded to the winning team. It is the reward of purposeful preparation, the attainment of a sense of true sportsmanship.
On the training field, in rain or sunshine, the runners feel the call of high purpose. Laying aside superfluous earth weights and overcoming within themselves a world of inertia, doubt, and fear, they train for the race. The secret of victory is found through keeping their eyes not on past mistakes or other competitors, but on the goal. Seeking self-glorification, trusting in physicality, or heeding defeatist suggestions will not help. The need is to strive always to reflect credit upon their highest ideals and the worthy institutions which they serve.
Referring to the wider field of right human endeavor, Paul, the Apostle, wrote (Phil. 3:13, 14), "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Before the apostle became a follower of Jesus, he achieved nothing of true credit for himself. By following the Christ, he won the power of Christian healing and was inspired by perfect Mind to write those glorious epistles which still stir to right thought and action those who ponder them.
