Goliath

136/365

Yesterday, I had the joy of participating in a Memorial Day tennis tournament in Highland Ridge neighborhood. The tournament was a mixed doubles round robin, thus, I constantly found myself facing opponents much larger than my usual pool of ladies. Some of these men, although quite nice people, were simply gigantic. Every shot I made seemed to be slammed back in my face with a force previously unknown to me. There was nothing I could do; fear got the best of me. In all honesty, I was just a scared little girl completely unsure of how to press on.

As the matches progressed, my fear seemed to morph into something that I did recognize easily…determination. I wasn’t going let a bunch of “dad’s” scare me out of my game. If I couldn’t reach inside myself and produce the talent that I knew was there against competitors that were kind, how was I ever going to make it in any adult league where the men weren’t my friends?

As my mom would say, it was time to dig deep. I reached inside for the competitive spirit that I knew was there and, eventually, emerged the champion.

Jeremiah 12:5
"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” – NIV

Rivalries are just a way of life. It will never matter if you compete in games, goals or life; the prerequisite is always the same: Fortitude. Your enemy could outweigh you, your enemy could overpower you, or your enemy could simply be…a Goliath. Regardless of what stands in front of you, it will never match what is inside of you.

God gives us a Spirit to outlast the fiercest competitor. It is by simple definition that we must press on. We must not concede to fear. We must not defer to intimidation.

We must dig deep and, eventually, emerge victorious.