Take Off the Leg Brace

As some of you know, I like to run. 

Run errands.  Run around like a chicken with it’s head cut off.  (Gross.)  Run the kids to school.  Run about the house Sunday morning looking for the girls’ Sunday shoes.  You know, running. 

Okay, I’ll be serious.  I do like to run for exercise too.  But in my case, it really isn’t right to call it “running.”  Walking really fast while out of breath is a more accurate description.

Have you heard of Wilma Rudolph?  She liked to run.  She won a Bronze medal at the Olympics in 1956.  (I know, some of us weren’t even born yet, but stay with me…I do have a point.) And then in 1960 Wilma became the first American woman to win three gold medals at the Olympics.  Now are you impressed?  Don’t answer yet. 

Wilma Rudolph is considered one of the world’s greatest female runners.  She was on a stamp.  (Try to top that.)  And in Tennessee where she was from, June 23^rd is Wilma Rudolph day. 

I am impressed with Wilma’s accomplishments.  But I was even more impressed when I learned that she was born with Polio, leaving her left leg crippled.  She couldn’t walk.  She couldn’t go to school.  She certainly couldn’t run.  Even though doctors told her she would never walk again, her mom diligently massaged Wilma’s legs four times a day to improve the circulation.

Wilma said, “My doctors told me I would never walk again.  My mother told me I would.  I believed my mother.”

Then one day when Wilma was a young girl, she decided she would remove her iron leg brace and she took the steps that doctors said she never would.  Pretty soon she had developed a rhythmic stride.  And then, Wilma got the idea that she wanted to be a runner.  So she ran in every race she could.  And she lost most of them.  But she didn’t quit. 

She entered every race in high school and soon she wasn’t coming in last anymore.  She attended Tennessee State University where a coach saw her talent and spirit and trained her so well, that she went to the Olympics. 

That day in Rome, when she won three gold medals, she made history and became the first woman ever to win three gold medals in the same Olympic games.  And they’d said she would never walk again… 

Anna Quindlen humorously said, “I was doing the family grocery-shopping accompanied by two children, an event I hope to see included in the Olympics in the near future.”

Wilma could have believed what the professionals said, but she chose to believe in herself.  She worked for what she wanted.  She set her sights high.  Becoming one of the worlds greatest female runners meant falling once in a while and coming in last on occasion.  It required a great deal of self-mastery.

Robert L. Simpson once said, “Self-discipline, the key to eternal life, is doing something that needs to be done whether or not you find it convenient.  Self-discipline is usually motivated by our convictions, our internal hopes, and our desires.”

Alma, from the Book of Mormon, knew a thing or two about self-mastery.  He mentioned the concept to each of his three sons. 

To Helaman he said, “…teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Alma 37:33)

To Shiblon he said, “…bridle all you passions, that ye may be filled with love.” (Alma 38:12)

And to Corianton, Alma said, “cross yourself in these things.”  (Alma 39:9)

Look at the footnote for the words withstand, bridle and cross.  In every case the footnote refers to the term self-mastery.

If it were up to me to sum up a ways of mastering ourselves using the words of Alma, I would choose these verses:

“Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if you do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

Alma certainly knew what it meant to withstand temptation, bridle his passions, and cross himself.  He had a rough start – he wore the iron leg brace of sin and it kept him from running until an angel of the Lord appeared to him and his life was changed forever.

Wilma Rudolph said, “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.”

“The height of a man’s success is gauged by self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment…He who cannot establish a dominion over himself will have no dominion over other.  He who masters himself shall be king.”  Spencer W. Kimball.

Some of us wear the leg brace instead of taking it off and taking our first steps towards self-mastery.  It is time to take it off! 

There are races to be won.