Gym life lessons #1 and #2

Persevere when challenged &

Celebrate one another’s successes

This week we had a fire drill during a class. I didn’t have enough time for the lesson I planned so I introduced knock out to the students so we could play for the few minutes left in class. For those of you who don’t know, knock out is a basketball shooting game where you attempt to knock out another player from the game by making a hoop before them.

As we began playing there was a student who had trouble getting the ball near the hoop. The student could have easily just put in no effort and thrown in the towel but instead the student persevered and kept at it. It was awesome to listen to the rest of the class cheer her on as well.

After a few rounds the student made a hoop and the class cheered!

It was a beautiful moment.

What made the moment even more wonderful was the person who was knocked out of the game because the hoop was made stepped aside and clapped for their classmate, celebrating her success with her.

I am sharing this with you today because we all meet challenging in life and we all know someone who is succeeding in an area of their life. I invite you to join me to…

pause. breathe. pray.

May we choose to persevere when we are challenged. It’s amazing what we can learn about ourselves in the process. And when we see someone else succeeding, rather than getting stuck in the comparison trap and feeling down because someone else is doing well, may we step aside and celebrate their success beside them. May we put these life lessons into practice so we too can experience joy in our hearts like these students did.

With love and hope,

Shawn

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope - Romans 5:3-4