Have you ever wondered why we even try? The first time that you were trying to learn to ride your new bike: you kept crashing, maybe had skinned up knees and probably at first were pretty frustrated. Then there is learning to tie your shoes! When you really think about it, its amazing we ever learn this one. We are given super long laces for our wee little, chubby fingers to maneuver and then every person that is teaching you has a different way: something to do with bunny ears or through the tunnel. But finally we get it and we are so proud of ourselves, we think we are pretty much the smartest kid on the block! We want to tie everyone's shoes for them and they patiently wait the 6 minutes for us to do so.
Well, this week Justin's science project went on from his Elementary School to the next level, which meant he would get to go to the Science Fair at the High School I was so very proud of him. Not everyone gets this chance, it is really a great accomplishment. So the night of the Science Fair, he puts on a nice shirt, which is pretty huge for a 12 year old boy, he is pretty jazzed to go and sit at his project for a few hours while people come, view and ask questions. At the end of the evening there's an award ceremony, where we find out who gets to go onto the next level. I am tired and debating if we even really need to go to the Awards or not. But Justin really wanted to so we went. As I am sitting there with him, I start to realize that he really wants his project to be chosen. He really, really wants to have his chosen. I had not realized this
until now, I was just proud that he got to this level. He sits through the evening on the edge of his seat. Well, I am sure by the title you can predict what happens, his name is not read. After the last name is read, his head hangs down. He is upset and sad. I look at him and know there is really nothing that I could do to help him, it is just one of those life lessons that we all have to learn: sometimes we win and sometimes we lose! As he throws his project into the back of the car I also realize he is angry and mad. So as we drive home I try to console him and try to explain how many kids were there and how only a few could win, how it was an accomplishment to have gotten that far and I am sure to him he heard blah, blah blah.
Since that night I have been thinking about how life is so full of these upsetting times. So why do we even try? Why do we allow a little bit of our hearts to break and our hopes and dreams to be shattered? What makes us as babies think we can walk, learn to talk or feed ourselves. Why do we even try?
I think I have come up with a few reasons. The first reason is the cheerleaders in our lives! They cheer us on, tell us to keep going and tell us that we can do it. Where would we be without these cheerleaders in our lives. In my life my biggest cheerleaders have been my mom who is always cheering me on, my father who teaches me consistency, my sister who always stands by my side, my brother that always tells me he loves me and my other brother that is such a great example to me, my husband that ate a lot of really bad dinners but kept encouraging me all along the way (he would never in a million years tell me that he did not like something that I had fixed for dinner, but I finally figured out that he would just put Ranch on it, I am happy to say he is using a lot less Ranch these days!) and supporting my desire to be a good mother, and of course the little cheerleaders in my life: my 5 children that look at me with eyes of trust in my decisions and the things that I teach them and their desire to do good pushes me. The next reason I feel that we keep trying is because of our constant desire to better ourselves, to make things a little nicer and to improve our current situation. But the most important reason that I feel we keep trying is because of our Maker. He represents perfection, exactness and greatness in every way! Our desire to return to Him, makes us also want to become like Him!
So we will fall, we will fail, we will have bad days and will not feel like getting out of bed....but there is a greater force calling us to be better and to keep on going! As parents, when we see our children fall, our heart hurts for them. The night after the Science Fair I had the thought to go out and have a trophy made up for Justin myself, just because I wanted him to feel Great about himself! I wanted him to be able to see himself the way that I see him, a fine young man that is growing up so quickly and will make a difference in this world. It makes me realize that when we fail here on earth how our Father in Heaven must feel so sad for us and then multiply that by ALL of his children here on earth, I wonder how he could handle seeing all of that, but then I remember all of the successes his sees each day and He looks at our failures in a much different light than we do... he sees them as teaching moments. Are we learning from them? Each of our trials are lessons given to us to better ourselves, stretch us and let us see that we actually can do more than we ever thought.
