There are different types of records. There are personal records, school records, record albums…

There are different meanings for the word record…The word itself can be used as a noun and a verb. Anything from some type of official document that “records” something, like the deed to a house, the times of a race or the heartfelt lyrics in song of a musical artist…

Seems this week around our house at least, we’ve been talking about a few different types of records.

Our daughter runs track. She runs the 200m, 400m and this year has run an 800m twice. About two weeks ago she ran a local league meet and apparently broke a school record but no one knew about it until the following Monday. There were some inconsistencies in the times of the races and actually at first they had our daughter in 4th place behind one runner who finished after her and another who didn’t even run! When they finally fixed the results for the third time it turned out she had broken her schools record by .01s. A teammate of hers ran the 100m at the same meet and her results later that same night were recognized as having broke the school record in the 100m. Neither athlete was recognized in the moment because immediate times were not given and in the end the athlete who initially broke the 100m record had her record recalled because when they redid the times her time wasn’t fast enough to have really broken the school record. Such a bummer for both athletes. Our daughter who hasn’t really accepted her time is valid and that she really did break the record and her teammate who had her record recalled. It was a disappointment for sure. We told our daughter there was nothing for it, she’d just have to do it again.

There’s another type of record we’ve been talking about in our family and that is Taylor Swifts new album, The Tortured Poets Department. Now if you know me in real life you might find it odd that I do in fact enjoy some music written by Taylor Swift, some…not all…mostly I respect her as a fellow songwriter. I really enjoy reading her lyrics. They tell difficult stories from her life or stories she’s imagined and most of the time they are set to good music and are thoughtful and interesting. On her last album Midnights, she has a song called, Bigger than the Whole Sky, which is beautiful in a fatalistic way. On this new album she has another song called So Long London, put the two songs together and you have a heartbreaking tale of love and loss. Now I don’t know that those songs are even related to the same person or relationship but they are achingly beautiful.

When we were talking to our daughter about her hesitancy to accept her record she said her victory felt hollow because she was sad for her teammate and didn’t quite believe the, as she called them, “sketchy” results. We can’t really blame her for feeling that way. She also expressed regret that she didn’t get to celebrate it in the moment like some of her other teammates have this season. We tried to remind her that records are made to be broken and they pass away and fade with time. She should strive always to be her best and not chase after someone else’s best. She’s a teenager so not sure she heard that part.

This post feels a bit melancholy to me but I guess maybe it is, me and her Dad missed out on being able to celebrate her “record” as well because a race director didn’t have the integrity to make sure the results were right. As of this moment they still have our daughter’s 4X100 team beating a team they clearly came in 2nd to, and despite the fact it’s on video, they have refused to fix it. Not doing your personal best, affects the others around you, sometimes in a negative way. We aren’t happy with the race director at all, she messed up what should have been two possible celebrations all because she was either too afraid to ask for help or to scared to admit that perhaps none of the times are right or that they aren’t sure how to fix them.

Hmm…I am thankful that our daughter wasn’t too upset and that her teammate seems to have rebounded from her disappointment as well. Both these athletes know their worth isn’t found in school records but in the great I AM. They’ll be ok so I can be grateful today for Jesus who loves us so much He gave everything He had. I can be grateful today because I know he holds our daughter and her teammate in His hands and wants good things for them whether that’s a personal record or a school record. I can be thankful for Taylor Swifts sad, heart achingly, melancholy songs, because sometimes it can help to just sit in a sadness or loss for awhile. I can also be hopeful that one day Taylor Swift will meet and know God, could you imagine what lyrics she could come up with then and the stories she could tell through song? I admit to making an assumption there about Taylor that maybe I shouldn’t make but if you’ve read enough of her lyrics I think you too would find a hesitancy of belief in God or at least Jesus.

So today…for “records”…I give thanks!

Running update…had a really good run Saturday, have a half marathon plan finally and feeling stronger, now if I could only resist sugar, will keep working on that one…KOR