Thoughts

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise."

Isaiah 43:18-21

Tonight I was telling my tennis team about the beauty of tennis being that there are so many places to simply start again. Each point, each game, each set... it’s an opportunity to start fresh. Sure, there’s a little something lost. But if you can win more points than the opponent going forward, you will win the match.

That’s so much like life. There are so many places to start new. To start fresh. Every year, people make resolutions. Every day, people start new habits. Every minute, we make new choices. Every breath, we speak or think something new.

The hope comes with what we do with the next breath. And so, I have to face my failures, the way that tennis season often makes me become selfish and gluttonous. I get stressed, eat way too much food by myself, ignore my household chores and school duties. I get wrapped up in praying for what I want (for tennis, in a home, in my next meal) and figure out how I can manipulate situations to get that.

But...

I will start tonight by not eating ice cream and being gluttonous. Seems small, but I can do that with my next breath. I will pray for others, including each one of my team. I can do that in my next breaths as well.

And tomorrow the sun will rise, and I will too. Not only in hope but also in praise.

All praises to the One who made it all and finds it beautiful...