A week of learning - Part 2

Last Wednesday was our Yr 3-6 Athletics Carnival. I was on 'team high-jump' with my amazing friend Katriny. We even had musk sticks.

It was so fun watching my kids and my kids of the past and even some kids who weren't my kids but I like them anyway (side-tracked sorry) demonstrate this insane highly impractical skill of running towards a mat, curving around beside it and flinging your self sort of head first back over a pole to land on your back on a mat.


1. How is this even practical? I mean when are you going to use this skill in real life? running yes. Long jump perhaps if there was a big puddle, shot put sure if you have a bomb in your hand that is about to explode, but even if there was a 1.3m fence right there, as if you are going to dive head-first over it on your back... hmm
2. Who came up with this idea?
3. How come so mny kids can even do it? Well of course there were kids like me who couldn't (haha i even tried jumping the 88cm our 8 year olds were doing... and failed, so unco!), but so many of them could. weird.

Anyway I learnt something from my high-jump watching that day (not how to do it, that still eludes me), but as I watched the kids I realised that as soon as the bar got raised to a level they weren't confident with, they almost all lost their technique. Those with perfect frosby-flops became superman divers when that bar went up another 2cm.

I think I've done a bit of that this year. The metaphorical bar has been raised at work. The expectations have become higher. The pressure has become greater. But instead of rising to the challenge, I've lost my technique. I've stopped spending quality time with God because there's so much other 'stuff' to do. I've swapped my positive 'it's going to be ok' & 'I love this' to something that is not me. I am resenting things I should be resenting and I am resenting myself for not being able to cope with stuff better. But the only thing that is going to work is pushing in a little deeper to what I know is true, the technique that works (Bible & prayer) and trusting God through the now. I hate that I've become a superman diver. They always end up landing on their face.

Another cute little reminder was watching the kids as they ran the long distance races (anything over 30metres is long distance for me, but I'm talking 400m, 800m, 1500m races) past us.Often they looked completely exhausted and about to give up, but Katriny & I (and which ever kids were near us) would cheer and yell out encouragement as they ran/jogged/stumbled past. Every time the kid perked up, their spirits were lifted, they had  sudden burst of energy.

I love that in life I have a cheer squad (so grateful for them this week) and that I get to be on the cheer squad for others in my life too. It doesn't mean the race becomes shorter, or less demanding. But knowing there is someone backing you makes all the difference.