How to Abound (in Humility): Like McLaughlin-Levrone and Bolt
This post was first published on 8/15/2016, during the Rio Olympics. Usain Bolt had won his third straight 100m Olympic gold. The post was updated on 8/9/2024 after Sydney McGlaughlin-Levrone won her third Olympic gold. I saw humility in both.
“It’s not that much for someone who is poor and in a low condition to have his heart kept low, but for someone to have his heart low when his condition is high is much more difficult.”
—Jeremiah Burroughs, Contentment, Prosperity, and God’s Glory
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
—Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:11-12
For all the mockery and misuse of #blessed, I think it’s a perfect expression of that noble, humble spirit. Blessed stands opposed to entitled, blessed expresses gratitude. Blessed counters “I earned this.” The word testifies to God’s grace. #blessed.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won her third Olympic gold last night. Hours after the race, she opened her Instagram post with this:
“What an honor, a blessing, and a privilege. I never want to take these moments for granted. In a week where my faith was tried, my peace wavered, and the weight of the world began to descend, God was beyond gracious. 🥹”
Bolt tweeted #blessed after his three-peat in the 100m win. (I’m one of his peeps.)
I know There’s danger in lauding any earthly hero. Don’t put your trust in man. All men and women—even the fastest—are wildflowers and mist. Every one will fade fast. We know this.
But the Word also says, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.
Usain’s not perfect. Google him and you might find a few foul words. We all stumble in many ways.
But Usain St. Leo Bolt got some big things right.
Humility Looks up
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Humility, you ask, incredulous? Haven’t you seen Usain’s breast-thumping, #1 boasts, you ask? Are you out of your late-night-watching-the-Olympics-sleep-deprived mind?
No. Humility.
Because we know that humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less. When any Olympic legend pauses to pray and give God thanks on a world stage, I see humility.
McLaughlin-Levrone is exactly 100 years removed from the Christian’s epic Olympic hero, Eric Liddell.
Bolt and McLaughlin-Levrone share more than fast feet with our Chariots of Fire hero. Even if Liddell didn’t say: God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure. It fits them all. (Turns out the words were written by Colin Welland as part of the Chariots of Fire script.)
Liddell was known, Bolt is known, for their enthusiasm and good humor. And for this “Girl with the etched furrowed brow,” who takes herself too seriously too often, Bolt’s light-hearted, unpretentious exuberance is a breath of fresh air. (Yes, unpretentious. It means trying to impress others with greater talent than one actually possesses. Bolt is the world’s fastest man.)
Proud people tend to be too puffed-up with themselves to want to bless others with their levity and laughter. I dare you to watch Usain and not crack a smile. Eric Liddell had that same light heart. His friends and classmates recalled that,
No adulation, no fame, no flattery can ever affect this youth…He has got that great redeeming gift, the gift of humour. His infectious enthusiasm endeared him to the sporting public, and for the next four years he packed the terracing at every sports meeting he attended.
He had a characteristic, humorous resistance to bullying or posing masters, giving his answers stern and satirical emphasis ,’46 Sir’ and then following up with a disarming smile, whenever and wherever the atmosphere permitted it.
In all Usain’s post-race antics (he hugged a huge stuffed animal on the track after the race), for all his smiles as he speeds on by, and his unpuffed-with-self poses that he freely gives “his peeps,” Usain Bolt displays a certain humility.
Humility Fears God
His pleasure is not in the strength of horse or his delight in the legs of a man, but the Lord delights in those who fear him and put their hope in his unfailing love.
—Psalm 147:10-11
God’s pleasure is (still) not in the (under 10 second for 100m ultra-fast) legs of a man. He delights in those who fear him and hope in his love.
A manifestation of fearing God is taking time to honor him. Usain doggedly honors God. Sure, it’s in his loose, Jamaican way. Critics might call them merely superstitious: signing the cross and sending prayers to heaven as the soles of his lightening-fast feet pressed hard onagainst his starting blocks.
God alone knows our hearts.
But his #blessed tweets aren’t required by the Olympic Committee. In fact, they’re probably not preferred. They’d probably rather their athletes not be so visible about their faith in Jesus Christ. Bolt and McLaughlin-Levrone are going against the flow when they honor God this way.
If ever they did, “Christian” shout-outs do not earn brownie points in the wide world of sports anymore. His tweets and signs and prayers may not be so bold as Eric Liddell refusing to race on a Sunday.
Still. They look like signs of man who behind his big talk and bigger grins fears his God.
“A prosperous state mightily endangers the grace of humility.”
Jeremiah Burroughs wrote that. He explains, that those who have learned to Paul’s secret show their humble spirits when they are,
As careful to return proportionate respects to God as they are to receive any mercy from Him. Their nobility is further sown in this: they are thankful. A noble heart is a thankful heart that loves to acknowledge whenever it has received any mercy.
Did you see Bolt bow his knee and give thanks to God when his 100m race was done? After winning the 200m in the last Olympics, he tweeted: “I want to thank God for everything he has done for me. Nothing would be possible without him.” No one made him do that.
Fast and abounding saints willingly bow to the God who made them fast.
Humility Sits Loose
“Sit loose to this world’s joy-the time is short.”
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne
Sit loose. That’s a motto for The Girl With The Furrowed Brow. It’s a shorter version of Paul’s Philippians 4 secret. Learn to be content, whatever situation you’re in. Because in Christ all things are yours, and you can do all things.
The most recognizable man at the Olympics is staying in the Olympic Village, for goodness’ sake, posing for selfies with mortals who will never make it out of a preliminary heat, pulling his own luggage, turning the same wobbly doorknobs like everybody else. He’s OK with that. He’s into it.
And sitting loose means sharing the glory. As “the Cosmic Center” of these Olympic games, Bolt he knows that the really great go low. They’re able share others’ success and joy. Jason Gay describes it.
One of the finer moments Sunday night occurred when Bolt was doing post-race interviews near the track, and he noticed the South African runner Wayde van Niekirk, who earlier had shattered the world record for the 400 meters, running 43.03 seconds. Bolt turned to reporters, told them he’d be right back, and then leapt back up onto the track to embrace van Niekirk, clearly the new buzz of these Games.
No one is better suited than Usain Bolt to make the case that winning isn’t everything, because even while he’s the world’s fastest man, he seems to know that all human glory fades away.
Usain Bolt and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone teach us how to abound. They are a refreshing breath of rare Olympic air for this very amateur, middle-aged runner who tends to take herself and any modest achievement too seriously too often.
Hours after setting a new world record in the 400m hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone closed her Instagram post with these words:
“Once again, I am immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to represent my country on the world’s biggest stage. What a blessing.🇺🇸✨”
Then she ended with this
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”
—Psalm 115:1
