Proverbs 24:16
For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.
Aren’t the Olympics SO much fun? My family cheers for the Americans, the Canadians and the underdog. We cheer for those athletes whose back stories are rich with details of the challenges they have overcome to be standing there. We cheer for the favorites. We cheer and cheer and cheer and make jokes about our own Olympic abilities. My husband is an Olympic water daddy. That’s the fine sport of balancing your daughters in the pool like surfers until they plunge into the water screaming DADDY! I sit on the sidelines, an Olympic potato chip eater, devouring bags of the crunchy snacks in world record time while cheering for the water Daddy. Sometimes between bites I’ll offer scores. “9.5”! When the Olympics are on, everything becomes a silly competition in our family.
My favorite sport to watch is women’s gymnastics. My own little girls are amazed at the flexibility and strength of these young athletes. We can hardly take our eyes off of team USA in their red shiny body suits and slicked back sparkly hair. And as we are watching girl after girl mount and then execute their routines on the balance beam, we are nervously aware that any misstep could cause them to fall off. So much is at stake and the tension of this truth weighs heavily in the air.
A day later images of the gymnasts are still with me but this time I imagine that I am the woman in glistening red and I’m balancing more than an Olympic dream...I am balancing my family on that narrow beam. The sport of parenting is under a harsh spotlight and the judges wait to deliver my fate. If I misstep, I risk dropping the most important people in my life. If I try and do too many steps at once I will lose focus. If I focus on the child I’m balancing on my left side, the child on the right side will fall and likewise if I focus too much on the right side, the child on the left will suffer. Each step I take must be perfectly thought out and balanced. If I stop moving, if I stop thinking, if I go too fast, too slow....each move will be followed by a consequence. I must be perfect. I am being watched. Judged. I love my children so much! That’s when the weight of the girls in my arms becomes too heavy and I let go of my family. Completely let go. We all fall. Hard. And on the dusty floor, before the pain of the fall even pierces me, I hear the Lord whisper, “It’s time for a coach.”
What? But I know what I’m doing. I’ve been parenting for 8 years. I’ve got this. And then I look around at my children on the floor and that’s when the pain pierces and that’s when the Lord takes my hand and I weep into his hands as he raises us back on to the beam.
"Lord, I cry, I had SO much focus on my family...why did we fall?" And the moment I ask the question is the moment the answer comes. God wanted the focus to be on HIM.
The judges have left. It’s just me and my husband, the kids, the beam and the Lord.
And so we begin again.
Grace. Amazing Grace how sweet it is.
