People Are Important

I had a rare treat the other day. I had the opportunity to go for a ride with veteran cyclist and three-time Olympian Mauno Uusivirta. Now in his mid-60s, Mauno still keeps very active by regularly cycling and skiing. He represented Finland in the Mexico (1968), Munich (1972) and Moscow (1980) Olympic games and worked afterwards as Finland’s Olympic cycling coach.

‘What makes a champion cyclist,’ I asked him, as we made our way in a group along the quiet, country roads. ‘Determination,’ Mauno replied. 

‘You have to be determined to do battle with your mind. If you are physically fit enough to race at an international level, the battle is not mostly with your body, the battle is with your mind,’ he explained. ‘You have to go out there, shut off your thoughts, do your job and not listen to what others say or don’t say. Just get the job done.’

Although I’ve only dreamed of competing at the level Mauno has, I can understand from my own years of cycling that any level of competition is really a competition against oneself. And being a Finn, Mauno’s realism and practicality appealed to me – ‘Just get the job done.’ And often it’s about just getting the job done, on those days that you really don’t feel like training, or on that climb that just keeps going and your legs keep hurting. Just get the job done. The battle is against yourself, your own abilities, your own limits, your own pain. And only ‘you’ can beat ‘you.’

I have an immense amount of respect for fellows like Mauno, who have succeeded internationally in a sport that is as tough as any sport gets. Only a few make it to that level. But real success comes from being able to transform success on a bike, to being a successful human being. And that’s a bit trickier. Although I only got to spend a couple of hours with Mauno, I got the sense that he had been able to do this.

Success as a person is of course measured quite differently. In biblical language, a successful person is called a ‘blessed’ person. And who are the blessed? In Jesus’ words, they are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake, the merciful and the peacemakers (Matt.5). Quite an interesting list and not one that I would have put together.

The Church at Toholampi, Minna's hometown. A place for the poor in spirit.

Usually such people are seen as weak and meek, certainly not powerful and successful. But often when we have met people who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful and who are peacemakers, we are touched by their inner strength and their quiet determination. They haven’t been scared to live and to love, even if this has hurt them.

Visiting my grandmother's grave. She was the epitome of mercy and meekness, now in God's care. 

The more we love, the more we become vulnerable to being hurt. But would any of us not love, in fear of being hurt? No. Love draws us out of our shells of self-preservation and woos us to open up to it and welcome it, despite the thorns that come with its embrace. Love invites us to share our stories and to journey together. It teaches us that people are important and the times we spend together are precious. It reminds us of how fleeting life is and how quickly it is lived and it summons us to drink deeply of everything that our friendships give us.

My God-father Seppo and his wife Siku. They have suffered greatly, but always greet you with a smile!

Celebrate life by embracing love and remembering daily that people are important. Be audacious enough to make yourself vulnerable, because it is out of vulnerability that come our deepest pain, but also the greatest love. Christ lived and died by such vulnerability, as he lived out his own words, ‘Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (John 15:13). 

The Ali-Happalas -- Great friends! It's as if we had never been apart.