A Basketball First

This month, our 1st grader started playing basketball for the very first time on a team of girls in 1st grade through 4th grade. At that young age, 3+ years makes a really big difference.  Our little girl is already vertically challenged for her age, but to be on a team with 4th graders, she is by far the shortest girl on her team.  She is also the youngest and least experienced.  Thankfully, the older girls have been very kind to her as she has been learning the sport.

Her team plays with the basketball goal set at 9 feet. The ratio of her height to the goal is equivalent to a 6' man shooting at a 15'7" goal.  Jeff told me that regulation goals are only 10 feet!   As tiny as she is, I never really expected her to get the ball into the basket this season.  "No one can rise to low expectations," so my thoughts, if vocalized, would not have been helpful at all!

Tonight, for the first time, she threw the ball into the basket not once, but twice out of about 6 attempts!  The look on her face was just priceless when she actually scored for the first time.  Oh, how I wish I could have gotten a photograph of that expression!

The basketball mom seated beside me commented about how hard she plays at games.  She has been so determined to make a basket.  Here I am still in shock that she chose basketball over cheerleading or gymnastics this season, and tonight, she shows me the smallness of my faith.

I know all too well how the fear of failure can be paralyzing.  Does fear of having my daughter discover the hard way that a sport or activity just isn't her area of giftedness keep me from encouraging her to try new things?  Does fear of putting too much pressure on her prevent me from giving her the confidence and support she needs to dream big and set high goals?  I was challenged tonight to let go of such faithless fears and to let her continue to explore new activities. She will only learn how to deal with failure and hurt feelings by experiencing them.

Tonight, however, God's lesson was not about handling hurts and failures. His lesson for her tonight was that we must give our best, believe, and let God take care of the rest.

1 Corinthians 9:24 
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
 

Mattthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”


When God calls us, are we afraid to come?  Do we focus on our weaknesses like Moses did when God called him (Exodus 3)? Or, do we immediately follow Him, believing that He will give us all we need to accomplish the task no matter how small we may seem next to the goal before us?

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. 


The waters of the Red Sea did not begin to recede until after Moses stretched out his hand over the sea in faith as God had instructed him (Exodus 14).  Sometimes, we just need to take that first step of obedience before we can see God unfold miracles before us.  Whatever the goal may be (ministry, career, family, fitness, etc), the challenge I came home with tonight is to simply take the next step of obedience which will lead us out of paralysis and into faithful living.

My little step

Her leap of faith at age 6