Running Free on Your Own Terms

In the summer of 2021, Simone Biles stood on the world's biggest stage at the Tokyo Olympics and did something no one expected. The most decorated gymnast in history — the one everyone assumed would collect another handful of gold medals — stepped back. She withdrew from multiple events, citing a terrifying condition called the "twisties," a sudden loss of spatial awareness mid-air that could result in catastrophic injury. The world debated. Critics called it weakness. But Biles had discovered something more valuable than another medal: the freedom to no longer perform for other people's expectations.

Three years later, she returned at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and won three gold medals and a silver. She didn't come back desperate to prove the critics wrong. She came back on her own terms, competing from joy rather than obligation.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). So many of us carry yokes we were never meant to bear — the need to earn approval, the pressure to be perfect, the weight of other people's opinions about our worth.

The freedom Christ offers isn't freedom from hard things. It's freedom from the crushing need to prove yourself. When you know you are already loved by the Almighty, you can step back when you need to and step forward when you're ready — not for applause, but for joy.