Basketball Lessons On Life

"I was really bad at the game..."

I once played basketball while I was in high school. I was even on the girls’ team and had a jersey with a number to prove it! Now, while I was a member of the Broken Arrow High School girls’ team for one season, I was never once allowed to actually play in a game.

For those who truly know me, they should not be surprised by this fact. You see, playing basketball, you have to have to skills. I really could NOT bounce the ball and walk or run with any sort of athletic coordination, let alone shoot hoops. I was truly the worst player on the team, which my coach let me know regularly!

Why then was I on the basketball team? Because my best friend, Peggy, who was very athletic, convinced me I’d love it! I hated every second of it and the humility I regularly experienced from the coach. He thought that screaming and shouting demeaning slurs would somehow motivate me or make me a better player! I think not.

I did enjoy running laps and working out. But on one particular Saturday, as I endured his verbal abuse, once again, I lapsed behind on the track, coming in last. With tears pouring down my face, I wondered why I persisted,

only to be benched at every game. Pulling off my new tennis shoes at the end of the run, the coach was chagrined. “Oh, your foot really was hurting,” he replied when he saw my blood-soaked sock. I finally had my “ah-hah!” moment as I stared up in his face. Why was I trying to participate in something I hated and was clearly bad at? Why was I enduring the abuse and humiliation?

And I quit! Yes! I quit that very day and walked away as he screamed more abusive words at my retreating form. And I realized too: just because my best friend loved basketball and was good at sports, didn’t mean I had to try to please or copy her or endure one more minute of the coach’s treatment.

"I loved running the laps and I was good at it..."

It also became a life lesson: sometimes in life, before we can discover what we were made to do and be who we were created to be, we have to know ourselves and know what we’re really bad at and what we hate!

I quit basketball and took up dance. Dance, in various forms, has given me lifelong pleasure and joy, being on dance teams, teaching dance, or participating in Zumba or other dance classes throughout my life and as an adult!

Basketball taught me a valuable lesson!

My niece, Kendall, while in college, was trying to pursue a degree as a physical trainer and therapist. It was a difficult program, and she still had years ahead of her. One day, in tears, she approached her uncle and me as we were helping to pay for her education. Fearful of our reaction, she said, “I don’t want to continue my college education anymore. Instead, I’d like to go to beauty school.” I replied, “That’s great if that’s what you really want to do! In fact, I see this as a perfect fit for you!”

She burst into tears again, surprised at my reaction. And I told her my basketball story. I left her with this insight: sometimes, before you discover what you love and what you’re really good at, you have to experience what you hate or what you were not made to do or to be. And that’s all a process of discovering who you truly are! Kendall went on to graduate from beauty school and, for years, had a thriving beauty business and home studio. She was very talented indeed!

"She discovered what she loved..."

Basketball examples can teach us all life lessons and help point us in the direction of our God-given talents and abilities.

What difficult things are speaking to you to quit and try something new? Don’t be afraid; you might discover exactly what you were made to be and to do!

Beloved:

Life is always teaching you lessons, and the more you learn to tune into your heart and My Voice, I will guide you. I know exactly who you are and how I gifted you because I created you. Follow Me and discover new talents and joys you’ve yet to unveil!

“Train up a child according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 LSB)

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful; I know that full well.” (Ps. 139: 13-14)

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps. 37:4)