I am the captain of two USTA 7.0 Mixed Doubles teams this summer,–a senior and an adult team.
We just played our first tournament in Spokane last weekend. And guess what? My senior team placed in the top two teams and advanced to the regional level!
What fun…
So it’s off to Sunriver, Oregon, in August to compete with big league players from around the Northwest. We’re all quite enthused about the opportunity.
I learn so many spiritual lessons from playing tennis.
During an intense match in this tournament while preparing to return serve, I noticed a large amount of intrepidation and anxiety running through my mind. I thought, “This is only a game, Evan! There is nothing to be afraid of.”
Well, I was afraid of missing the shot. The server was brutal and I felt incompetent to meet the demands his high level of play put on my developing tennis skills.
So I quickly prayed for a solution to the fear.
I thought about other tough situations one might face in life. If you believe success is totally dependent upon you, on personal skills, on a material set of factors that may or may not be ideal, then certainly, you’re going to feel incompetent and maybe even hopeless. The premise of “I have to do this by myself,” puts one in a very weak moral and spiritual position.
But when you put God first and understand that God gives you all you need to succeed, the anxiety and fear of failure disappears. God can do anything. Our job is to listen and act on God’s direction.
So, I calmed down, relaxed mentally, and accepted that God gave me all the skills I needed to successfully return the serve.
I reversed mortal mind’s negative thinking of “I will fail. I can’t do this. This is too hard.” and replaced it with, “I can do this. God gives me the preparation, the understanding, the speed, the talent, to successfully return this ball.”
I went even further. I declared with joy and gratitude, “I look forward to the serve! I want the ball to come to me. I can’t wait to return his serve. This is fun. I’m going to improve with every swing. I’m going to enjoy this opportunity to return serves better. I’m glad I’m facing this man so I can become a better tennis player.”
I did not return all his serves successfully, but I lost the fear and learned faster than otherwise.
We must not fear what life serves us. Everyone faces “a tough server,” eventually, whether at work, at home, in family, health or financial situations. God gives us what we need to deal with the circumstances effectively. We don’t have to do it all by ourselves. That’s not the good choice to make.
God knows how to deal with it and is giving you what you need to succeed.
Listen, follow, act upon divine direction, and whatever is served up to you will be returned right back to where it came from. And the game of life continues unabated, joyful, productive and progressive.
I learn so much from the tennis stories…
I LOVE this!
Especially the part about looking forward to the challenge to become a better player. What a refreshing perspective from the beaten down “why me” I sometimes get tricked into.
Thanks for your generous sharings!!!
Thanks, Evan. “Attitude is everything”, an old saying, becomes illuminated spiritually here. And congrats on your win.
I love this too, and so appreciate the way you are always using what you learn to teach others :). I have a question, though, and you did such a great job answering ones I wrote in response to an earlier post that I thought I’d try asking again…
So, in the tennis game, you told yourself things like “I can do this,” “God gives me [what I need] to successfully return this ball,” “this is fun,” and “I’m going to enjoy this opportunity to return serves better.” Then you found that, even though you didn’t return every serve, you lost the fear and learned faster than otherwise. My question is, can this approach really be applied in situations that are not “just a game”?
For instance, I have been struggling with what seems to be a long-term, aggressive health problem. I can see how becoming convinced that I can meet this, that God has given me what I need to successfully reverse this challenge, that this is fun (well, or at least a good opportunity for growth), and that I’m going to enjoy (or, maybe I could say “appreciate” because I’m really not enjoying it) this opportunity to understand spiritual healing better could result in my letting go of much fear.
But isn’t it easier to accept this attitude when you know it’s just a game and that, in the end, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t return all the serves? If I don’t meet all the challenges that attend this particular health problem, well, then I’m in pain, I can’t function well, I become a burden to others, etc. It matters! So I guess my question really is this: can we know with certainty that, if the demand requires the returning of every serve, that we will be up to that too? And, if not, then how do we let go of the fear of “missing the shot”?
To above,
You ask many questions!
The “game” I ended up “playing” was not a tennis match, but a metaphysical match–one between love and fear. And I won. Truth won. I did not miss a single shot on that score, and that’s what mattered.
The same rule applies to meeting health challenges. The “game” is not a physical one. It’s a metaphysical one, and you have Truth on your side to hit every shot correctly and win every point.
As long as you believe the issue is material, you are liable to feel defeated and weak. But the issue is never physical. It’s mental. And this understanding puts you into a position of strength and dominion to conquer. Christ gives you what you need, and even better, makes it happen for you.
Ahhh, of course! That is so helpful and makes perfect sense. Thank you so much, for the response and your patience with my many questions :).
I also enjoy your analogies, as they make the points “hit home” much more clearly.
Thank you for providing this daily uplift.
This is so wonderful Evan. Thank you!
Sometimes it is in the comments and the answers that I get the most help, so yes, thanks for you patience with questions and answering them, the ‘metaphysical not physical’ game idea really struck home.
Good, and thanks, cos tennis analogies don’t click for me but the answers did.