Basketball "try-outs"

Okay...I just took my oldest son, Joseph 4 1/2 to basketball "try-outs" for upward basketball....so I use the term try-out loosely...it was really just an evaluation and they'll call me next week to let me know what team he'll be on...but as he was at the shooting station I just about lost it and started crying. I mean, here is my sweet baby....he's not a baby...but he's my first born...something unique about them isn't there? He was trying to make a basket with all his might, and he wasn't compromising on his form, I was so proud of him. You see, I played ball for about 12 years and then I had the privilege of coaching for about 3 years...and it is the most amazing thing I've done outside of being a wife and mother.

I wonder....how often do I compromise my "form" in my christian walk....I"m just reflecting on what I saw tonight in my son, and I was so touched by him, at 4 1/2 shooting an adult size basketball at a goal that was regular height, he stood there, tall and proud, and shot just like I had taught him...perfect form...and he kept missing...but the shot was perfectly missed...if that makes sense. Then he'd get frustrated and chuck it up there, he'd miss way worse...I'd watch the helper run and duck...it was hilarious really. But then he'd revert back to proper form and it was dead on...just a few feet short every time. It completely parallels my life...I mean I know the right thing to do, like Paul in Romans, and yet sometimes I do not do it, but I do the thing which I hate the most. I'm going to start praying that God would guide my form in my walk...I wonder if as He watches me live and try to live for Him, if I ever make Him proud like my son made me tonight. It wasn't that arrogant pride...it was the overwhelming amazement of what my little boy was doing....and his perseverance in doing it....no matter how many times he messed up. I guess that's it really...pressing on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14).

O Lord how i want that....give me the grace to press on...these years are tough, but God is faithful.