From Makenna's Foot to God's Voice

Spring and Summer of 2013 can be summed up in the words, "water polo."  Our lives were completely dominated by the sport.  Makenna was on the "14u Red" team for her club.  For most of you, I just spoke a foreign language.  "14u" means 13 and 14 year old girls and "red" represents the best players in that age group (when there are enough players to make multiple teams, "red" are the top players, "black" are the next best and "white" usually represents newer players).  With such a great team, the club entered the team in a lot of tournaments.  So many tournaments, in fact, that usually 3 out of 4 weekends were spent at the pool for games.  Not all the tournaments were local either, we traveled EVERYWHERE! Summer also brought the two practices a day schedule with swim conditioning in the morning and 3 hours of water polo practice in the evening as the girls prepared to qualify, then compete in the Jr. Olympics.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time with the families on her team.  It's always been my desire that wherever God puts me in life, I want to be a representation of Him.  With the competitiveness of the sport and my own competitive spirit, let's just say I wasn't always the best representation of Christ.  I'm human, and therefor a sinner, so naturally I made mistakes.  What bothered me though was that I became complacent with who I was becoming as a competitive "water polo mom."  Because of the politics of sports, it's easy to become wrapped up in the drama that competitive sports can bring.  As much as I wanted to avoid it because of my faith, it became easy for me to get wrapped up in all the rumors and gossip, much of it as a result of INTENSE rivalry from some other teams.

Everything changed in August though.  Jr. Olympics were held the first week of August (Makenna's team took 6th in the nation, not as well as had been anticipated, but great nonetheless!) then just a few days later, Makenna had foot surgery.  She had already spent a summer in a cast in 2011 trying to avoid surgery, but now we didn't have much choice.  The surgery, although painful, brought 5 months of much needed rest as she recovered and couldn't play water polo.  It's unfortunate that it took surgery to slow us down, but God always uses every circumstance to shape and mold us and bring about good. Our family got to enjoy dinners together in the evening, there was no running off to practice before John was even home from work.  We actually got to spend weekends doing family things instead of traveling for tournaments.  It was a much a needed break after a chaotic six months!

It was during this time, though, that God really spoke to me.  With just a crazy schedule instead of an insanely crazy schedule, I was able to focus on quiet time with God and allowing Him to work through me.  Although difficult at times, God made clear to me changes He wanted me to make in my life.  Through His strength, I was able to let go of some bitterness I had been carrying around for five years brought about by hurt.  He began to reveal to me some opportunities He was going to open up for me.  Largely, He began to change my attitude.  I wasn't liking the person I was becoming, so wrapped up in competitiveness, that I failed to see the bigger picture and just enjoy life.  I was so focused on Makenna becoming the best water polo player, that I started to lose the joy of watching her play.  Through the years, with Makenna on swim team and then water polo, I had observed parents turn into vultures, doing anything they could to get their kid to the top, no matter who they hurt trying to get there.  I also saw the impact it had on their children and people around them.  Friends became barriers to their child getting ahead and yelling at their kids for even the smallest mistakes.  The impact on the kids became evident as kids began to fear disappointing their parents that they quit playing as a team and began playing for the applause of their parents.  Even the kids would turn malicious in their words to each other and in their game play.  I watched kids that once loved their sport, begin to lose their love for the game because they were so wrapped up in gaining the glory of being the best.  Although I never reached that level of "craziness" I did begin to see myself headed in that direction.  The five month break allowed me to pause and decide if that's the person I really wanted to become in life.  Being competitive can be a great quality, but if  it consumes you, it slowly can begin to destroy you, changing you into a person that doesn't honor God and represent Him.  It also robs your child of the main reason they play a sport, because they love the game!  Of course you want to win, but if winning becomes your idol, you'll worship it above God and strong moral character.

If there's one thing I learned during the past five months, it's that it's time to go in reverse and return to the supportive parent Makenna needs and the representative of Christ that God desires me to be.  More importantly, God has convicted me to make some changes.  It doesn't matter if what I'm doing is a sin or not, if God convicts me and I don't listen, that's a sin.  What God requires of me might not be what He requires of another person, but if He requires it of me, not walking in obedience to His call is sinful.  I choose God.  His desires are more important than my own and ultimately lead to joy and fulfillment in life, and better yet, eternity with Him.

Last night, after five months, Makenna returned to the sport she loves, water polo.  It's a different team now as one of the youngest on her former team, almost all of the other players aged up and she didn't.  She has her first tournament this weekend and I've already noticed something that I like and probably wouldn't have appreciated before the surgery.  Although the players and parents want to win, they want to play well as a team and most of all, they want the girls to enjoy every moment, even if they lose.  This is a quality her first team had when she was on the 12u team and lead to her absolute LOVE of water polo.  Even if I see a change in the attitude of this team, I pray I can remain who God is molding me to be.