The Grace of Grit

The Australian Open for 2014 is almost history. Li (4) will meet Cibulkova (20) in tomorrow's finals of the Women's singles. The Men's singles, on Sunday, will be a contest between Nadal (1) and Wawrinka (8). In what some observers are calling his best tennis of the tournament, Nadal defeated his perennial rival in three sets of first class tennis. 

Upsets are always in the cards. It's not over until it's over. However, the fact that Rafal Nadal has opened the season with a determined arrival at the finals of the first Grand Slam carries motivational significance.

Rafael Nadal is one of those players who lives with pain and, as such, presents an athletic illustration of the spiritual contest in which we are engaged against the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is a battle of faith and is described by the Greek term agonidzo from which we get our word agonize. There is nothing convenient about it and it does not go away. What is especially important to remember is that our battle is not against human opponents and limited to scheduled events. We fight a warfare against spiritual forces which can carry the contest right into our living room. I wonder if, when Nadal decides to write an autobiography, he will tell us his greatest opponent of all his tennis career was himself? Will he tell us he had to compete against an ever-present temptation to quit early? Will we, in our own contests against the pain we encounter in life, be able to say that by the God-given grace of grit we fought the good fight.