My son's basketball team had a game tonight....and they lost. He is usually always "up", whether they win or lose, with his steadfast grin and goofy persona. But not tonight. I thought perhaps he was sick, or had taken a blow that I didn't see as I could tell he wasn't himself. But I found out later he felt the loss was his fault as many of his shots missed their mark.
Sometimes life is like that. We miss opportunities, our shots fall short, we don't pass, we let go of the ball. But tomorrow is a new start, a new day, a new game. We hold up our heads, we gather our strength, we begin anew.
Though I knew he still felt badly, I did see the smile again before he went to bed. We forgive, we adjust, we redirect, we move on. The dawn awaits. Her arms are open to a new opportunity....and another shot at it all.
4 comments:
Tell him not to feel bad. Nyssa played basketball in junior high and high school. It took her almost a whole season to actually shoot the ball. When she was a junior she switched from her small church school to the state's Math and Science school. These girls were only together for two years at best, had never played together and Nyssa was one of only a couple of them that had ever been on a team before. These girls were headed for Cornell, Princeton, Yale, William & Mary, Cal Tech and had lots of homework. It was a residential high school so few parents could travel to cheer them on. Practice was limited to three times a week because of the school work. And they had to play the other public schools in the area. Needless to say in the two years she played there, they never won one game. Once they were ahead at the end of the third quarter and I took a picture of the scoreboard as I knew it wouldn't last. Most games were lost by 30 points or more. The boys weren't much better.
Her senior year they played her old school and were way ahead at the half. Somehow Immanuel caught up and MSMS lost by two points. That was her worst time. I don't think the other 24 losses would have made any difference, but this one loss was hard.
It's a game. Learning how to lose gracefully, how to pick it up and try again is really an important lesson for life. I think this is the part of high school sports that is most important, more than winning or losing.
What a motivational post! Thanks Lori! I needed that on this early Friday morning!
I love this one. I TOTALLY agree with you that while it is good to reflect on what we could have done to improve a situation, it should be for a time and then we need to move on and not replay it over and over. If we are too busy looking backwards we keep stumbling on our way forwards.
psst. thought i'd let you know i'm back. and ... thanks.
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