Live Big

Whitney played volleyball this weekend in the Junior Olympic Regional Bid tournament. Sounds important, but really is just to rank the teams and then they get invites to the Junior Olympics based on their rankings. We mostly stay close to home and play local tournaments. We are a team that is playing to get better, not to get national attention. I can’t / won’t travel every weekend all over the country for volleyball with a 14 year old. So we love this team. It’s picked by the high school coach who will be her coach next year.
In picking a team this way he takes the girls coming to his school first. Then he fills positions around them. This is not the way a lot of club teams are filled. Height is a big deal in volleyball. Short girls are overlooked because they are short, regardless of their skill or athletic ability. Our team has three girls under 5’3”. Two over 5’6”. Out of 8 girls, the other 3 are in the middle. I was sitting in the stands watching a game Saturday and heard two dads from an opposing team talking. First one says that this game is really mismatched. There were no girls on the other team shorter than my 5’6”. Second one says they sure are a little team. When the score was 21-14 our favor I heard one say I guess no one has told them they are little. The difference is we have position players. They know their job, they do their job. We have excellent passing and setting which allows the hitters to kill the ball. The tall team had great hitters, but never got good passes or sets to utilize their strengths and skills.
This is a concept that always touches me. It’s everywhere, not just sports. We have been given talents and gifts from God. We are to use them. The parable of the master who went away and left each of his servants with talents, and all but one invested and doubled their talents. This is what we are supposed to do. Use what God has given us to the absolute best we can. Don’t bury it, don’t hide it. Even if you can’t see the returns on it, it will happen.
I have seen this principle in Whitney this year in volleyball. A 5’3” defensive specialist. And she is good. But she wanted to play the whole game, so she invested time and worked on her front row game and earned a spot as a right side hitter as well. So she stays in the whole game.
Invest what God has given you. I don’t have any talents that just jump right out and amaze people. I have learned to laugh at the fact that generally there are two or three people in my house that are more talented than I in any area, and that’s before I get to the real world. But sometimes, I see things happen around me and I understand that a talent is not just volleyball or public speaking or singing or acting or writing. It’s not just cooking or sewing or painting and sketching. It’s the act of saying something encouraging. Having the right word to say in time of tragedy. Knowing when to listen instead of talk. Loving someone unlovable. Making people feel valued. Taking care of something quietly, behind the scenes that no one will ever know it was you.
I’ve said before that I have a spotlight personality with backstage skills and talents. I am okay with not being in the spotlight, more now than ever before, but I don’t feel the need to take on every stage hand responsibility either. I have started looking for opportunities to use my talents as much as possible, even though they are not what most people would consider talents and skills. One of mine is that I don’t forget things. Birthdays, anniversaries, things people like or don’t like, names and events. I am trying to use this. I send more birthday cards. I try to call or email before and after events in people’s lives. Mostly, I’ve just been trying to show people that I care as much as I really do. Because I know feeling lonely and forgotten hurts. I also know God hasn't made anyone to live little.