My Mother and the Olympics of 2021

                 Mother and I enjoyed viewing some of the summer Olympic events from Tokyo. She preferred the track events but discovered she could get interested in other events, such as swimming, because of the competitive nature of them.

Several entries in Mother’s vintage black diary during the spring of 1937 focus on her track races. At age twelve, she attended Belford Grade School in the west Bend. The sixth grader penciled onto the now yellowed pages “Ran races” early in the spring. As the season progressed, she scribbled, “Ran races. Won the 100-yard race.” One of the next entries had these words, “Ran races. Won both 50 yard and 100 yard.”

She wrote about winning relays. She always ran the anchor leg of the relay. Mother, as a sixth grader, noted winning relays, but the highlight of her April 20, 1937 entry, was outrunning Harry Elzie Myers in the 100. She and Harry Elzie shared first cousins, Leo and Johnnie Rainey, both of whom were older than she and Harry Elzie. Harry Elzie’s mother, Myrtle Bierman Myers was a sister to Mother’s Aunt Pearl Bierman Rainey. I think she was pleased to outrun a boy! Girls rarely had the opportunity for friendly competition with boys.

 Mother inherited her running giftedness from her father, Calvin Callcayah Smith, who was heralded as an outstanding baseball player. Anytime we talk of Grandpa’s running, she chuckles as she tells of Grandpa, later in life, being forced to outrun an ill-tempered cow--successfully doing so each time.

 Bernyce Smith, my
mother when
attending Belford
 Grade School

Whether running races, playing softball, running and dribbling a basketball, or even chasing and catching animals in the wild, Mother loved to run. During the early 1950s, Dad and she served as adult leaders of the Masham Baptist youth group. Many of their outdoor activities involved running. Just recently, she stated, “Before you were born, during games, I could outrun even the high school boys!”

I did not inherit or try to develop the running capabilities from Mother nor even good eye/hand coordination. I am ashamed to admit I hit Mother in the head with a softball! Years ago, I had forced myself to play catch with Angie in the backyard since Mother was busy; but unfortunately, Mother came outside and began to cross the lawn. Although she was quite a distance from us, she thought to herself about my unpredictable throwing arm, surely she won’t hit me. I was appalled that I did, but was so thankful she was not injured.

Due to my poorly developed physical skills, I admire those who have honed their natural talents with arduous training. As I watched  the last two weeks, I remembered Paul’s words in I Timothy 4:8, For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

No one can witness events from the Summer Olympics 2021 and fail to recognize the enormous benefit of physical training, bodily exercise. We know from Paul’s writings as he referenced events from the ancient games, he understood the value of physical training. Yet Paul said in comparing bodily exercise and godliness, that bodily exercise is of minimal profitability. This reveals to us the overwhelming benefit of training in godliness. May we heed the words of the Apostle Paul and commit ourselves to training in godliness – Bible reading, prayer, meditation on what we read, and obedience to the principles we gleaned from our reading. We can be assured our lives will be abundantly enriched by our spiritual training.

In this blog post, the adeptness of my mother and my grandfather at running is discussed: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2017/03/tobacco-tents-and-thieving-in-thirties.html