Live your dreams

After all the planning and the hype, the time has finally arrived. It’s here.

The opening ceremony is upon us.

Set to one side all the political shenanigans and the costs – not to mention the numerous debates about whether the Olympics will benefit the whole of the United Kingdom or just certain parts.

There are athletes from all over the globe who, today, are living their dream and simply raring to go. While a few are well paid for their efforts, the vast majority have sacrificed a great deal in order to compete at the level they do. For them, these Olympic competitions mean the world.

For them, it is, very much, the taking part that counts. And the goal, no matter how far-fetched, is to win gold. I have played a fair bit of sport in my time. As a child I played football. This was in the days before it was considered the “proper” thing for a girl to do. I have the dubious honour of having a scout for Heart of Midlothian FC approach my mother to sign up her “son”. She has three daughters.

As a teenager I moved on to play hockey and did so for the school and for the county and had trials for the east of Scotland.

At University I played for the Divines and for Edinburgh ladies. I played badminton for the county and continued playing when I moved to the Black Isle.

In my first parish I used to swim a lot. I used to do the Loch Ness challenge – not outside on the actual Loch but the January challenge which the old Inverness pool used to set! Twenty three miles. The fastest I did it was in 10 days – being sponsored for a charity. (Just for your information: 64 lengths equals just 1 mile)

I played Judo. Not to too high a standard but enough to be able to hold my own. I did the full contact version of Taekwondo and was only two grades from my black belt when I had a knee injury that stopped everything.

I loved table tennis and was a reasonable opponent who didn’t go down too easily!

But those whom we will see competing at the Olympics over the coming days are people who are truly gifted in their chosen sport and who are so dedicated when it comes to building on those sporting gifts that they are willing to train morning, noon and night in an attempt to be the best in the world.

Such dedication, such focus, has to be admired.

They remind us that anything worthwhile in life requires some effort – and that is true whether we are talking of sports... or of faith, or relationships or anything at all. Nothing comes for nothing. We have to put in to get out.

Without effort we cannot hope to achieve anything.

This week as you watch the hopes and dreams of others in action, why not live some of your own.

Put in the effort and with or without a medal, hopefully you’ll discover it’s worth it!