I just read about a fascinating study done by Professor Vicki Medvec which sheds some light on the importance of how we look at things. Medvec studied Olympic medalists and discovered that bronze medalists were quantifiably happier than silver medalists. Here’s why: Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold, so they weren’t satisfied with silver; bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all, so they were just happy to be on the medal stand. (If Only: How To Turn Regret Into Opportunity by Neal Roese)

The key is to live life without regret. To do our absolute best and then accept the outcome. Of course that’s easier said than done.

The Apostle Paul says it this way: “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” (1 Corinthians 9:24)

Notice what Paul did not say, he didn’t say that if you run to win, then you’re going to win. Only one person in the race is going to get the prize. BUT, at the end of the day, if we’ve worked hard . . . if we’ve done our best to be a good parent, friend, spouse . . . if we can lay our head on our pillow and say to God, “I did my best to live for you today,” then in our own eyes and I believe in God’s eyes, we will have won the gold medal.