Article October 23, 2017 Issue

Challenge beliefs about age

Susan Angle Damone

The 2017 Wimbledon Tennis Tournament concluded in July. For the last nine years, sports analysts have claimed that Roger Federer, who recently turned thirty-six, had peaked and that he was beyond the age of winning another major tournament. In spite of that dire prediction, he won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017. When asked how he was able to accomplish these goals, he said it was because he believed that he could win.

For me, this was an important insight into his victories because it showed that the most important factor was his thought. Of course he trained and studied the games of his opponents, but that preparation supported the conviction of his thought. Federer didn’t say that he was praying about his desire to win (although he may have been), but he did indicate that he opened his thought to the possibility of winning in his thirties. He expected good results, regardless of the predominate opinions of tennis commentators. This expectancy of excellence wasn’t self-will, but rather freeing himself from the shackles of ageism.

Worldly opinions are very different from God’s thoughts, which are the source of our perfect, unchanging nature.