T2 Tennis

139/365

A couple months ago, my mom and I teamed up to play T2 tennis this spring. All season we have played super well together and last night was our final regular season match. Fairly confident in our abilities, as we both are, we could tell during warm ups that this match was going to be a problem.

The women we were playing hit the ball so soft that it seemed like it was never going to get to us. My mom and I both, I guess you could say, have an inherent “need for speed”. As players, we thrive off power and velocity; it is just our game style. Suffice to say, against these two powder pushers, we were facing a world of frustration.

Naturally, as we both are inclined to do, we found ourselves playing down to their level. They would push it over, we would push back. Their balls would just seem to be sitting in mid-air, waiting for us to kill them, and we couldn’t deliver. We knew that we were better. We knew that we had the capability to overcome. Sometimes, I suppose, all the knowledge in the world isn’t enough to affect your behavior.

Romans 12:2
“Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” – The Message

Don’t we all wish that a sport was the only area in life where conformity was an issue? Playing down to your adversary in games is not nearly as impactful as life. But, alas, our nature is our nature.

So often I find myself longing to belong. I know that this world is not for me. I know that my treasure lies in Heaven. I know that, by nature, this world will hate me and everything that I stand for. But, once again, all the knowledge in the world just isn’t enough to affect my behavior.

I regularly find myself coming down to culture’s level. I constantly watch my body take action when my spirit cries for patience. I continuously need God’s grace to bring me back up where I belong.

I have heard it said that the opposite of courage is never cowardice, its conformity.