Athletes...

I love watching my boys play sports...Basketball, football, cross country, baseball, soccer...They've played them all. Lately, as I've been running from practices and games I've been thinking about how hard these boys practice, work out, and learn about their respective sports. We have a prayer that has sort of turned into our family saying: Give your best. Win or lose, that's all you've got- YOUR best. I love this picture of Brandon as he waits for a break in the game so he can sub in. He's focused intently on the happenings of the game- who's guarding whom, where the ball is, etc. He doesn't take his focus off the game until it's over. He gives HIS best.

This is a picture of Cade (#63) at his last football game when he got to be one of the team captains. What the picture doesn't show is how this group of boys held hands as they walked out to the center of the field together. I have watched Cade become so passionate about his team and everyone giving their best, that it has brought us all to tears. Listening to his coach at their awards party, I realized that THEY saw my son give his best at every practice and every game. Win or lose- Cade showed up and left it all on the field.

The point: I need to give MY best...whether it be at my new job working with children, singing on the worship team, being a wife, being a mother... those things I find it easy to give my best to. However, God has been nudging me ever so gently that I may not really be giving my BEST to Him. I don't have that focus that my boys do in the middle of a game when it comes to my walk with God: quiet time, prayer time, journaling. I find that I'm distracted by the 'noise' and the 'crowd'; and I'm making mistakes...stumbling over very obvious obstacles in my way...not holding hands with my team mates as we go out onto the field together- trying to do it on my own. SO, that's my challenge to myself. Yeah, I love posting pictures of my boys - love to show them off. I've never been an athlete...but I'm finding that the things they are learning are things I need to challenge myself to learn so that I can give MY best to my creator, my Father...my coach!