When I was at LSU (GEAUX TIGERS!), I went to Delta Downs a few times with friends. I’m not a betting person, but I bet on those horse races. I had a rule then that I’ve applied to life. I’d walk through the paddock and find the horses who were restless and wearing blinders.

The rule… always bet on the ones who are restless and wearing blinders. They don’t pay attention to the way those around them are running their race. They’re just eager to run their own.

Today, for the first time in many years, I looked at the horses racing the Kentucky Derby and placed a bet. I saw a video of Mage in a paddock wearing blinders and scratching his hooves, eager to run. I watched tonight as he ran his race like he was the only horse on the track. It was beautiful!

After the win, I got to thinking about how hard it is in this day and age to run my own race without paying attention or comparing myself to those around me. I took this picture with a filter…

I don’t even know who that is and it makes me want to book an emergency appointment with a plastic surgeon. If I study that picture and start thinking that’s what I should look like, I’ll never be able to happily run the race I was created for.

Reality is, I look like this…

Hebrews 12:1 (paraphrase) Let us throw off everything that hinders us and run the race set out before us with perseverance/endurance.

Lessons learned from the derby:

Keep my blinders on. Don’t pay attention or compare my race to others, and especially not to some altered version of myself.

Eagerly run the race I was created for.

Endure.

Persevere.

Win. 🙌 🥳