Stones and a slingshot.

 

What do you do when it’s all so big? When your just one and they are many.

When everywhere you look, there’s just more of the same; BIG.

 The boys and I talk about BIG a lot.

 

I mean, see that #50 right there? He plays center…

 

…that’s also him there in front of the referee, checking his armband like a good boy!

Yep, he’s one of mine~ a full head or two smaller than the rest of the O-line. But man do I adore that kid!

(and the other little kid behind him, in gray long sleeves, he’s mine too of course!)

 And remember this? It still makes me hurt for Dakota!

It goes without saying that David and Goliath isn’t just a Bible story at my house. It’s a consistent reality. My boys know something about facing a giant. As in every time they show up on the football field.

As their Mother I can’t change genetics, but I can help change perspective’s. I can’t build bigger, taller, wider; but I can help build mental toughness. And so that’s what we do~ we accept what we can’t change and work on what we can. After all, it’s not the athletes with the most physical talent who make it~ it’s the ones with the greatest passion, and possibly a slingshot!

As I’ve watched my little boys take on Goliath’s week after week, year after year~

we’ve discovered a few things about managing BIG:

You keep showing up.

You don’t ever quit.

You don’t let BIG know your scared.

You line up, get your hand on the ball and take out the feet in front of you. Again and again.

You remember that BIG is often slow.

You figure out what you do really well~ and you keep doing it really well.

Hurt stay all over BIG… BIG will wear out eventually!!

 

But what do you do when BIG is a failing marriage, mental illness, brokenness, bankruptcy, loss, suicide, empty?

What then? Can a slingshot take that on too?

I have recently watched several friends take devastating blows from BIG. And I mean unbelievably BIG. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say; however, most of the time the best thing to do is to not say. Offer friendship instead. Shared tears. A nonjudgmental spirit. Compassion. A tender heart. Belief. Prayer. Stones and a slingshot, if you will.

 

Over the years, as I’ve driven to football games with lots of nervous testosterone in the back seat, I’ve wanted to give my boys something to take with them as they stepped onto the field. Something that will build their confidence and settle their nerves.

I’ve reminded them to stay focused on doing what they’ve been trained to do and no matter what “keep your head on”, as we say around here. Sometimes I’ve had to pour heavy doses of belief over their fears; other times I’ve prayed out loud over them.

But as my boys have lined up at the scrimmage line, facing their fears and the BIG that often comes with equal amounts of smack talk~ I think about how David took on BIG; with a handful of stones, a slingshot, and his God.

I know it’s what my boys need too.

And it’s what that failing marriage, that devastated family, and that empty life also needs!

 

This weekend my boys will play in their 2nd playoff game…against the only team they lost to this year. The kids weren’t overly big but they did beat our boys~ so it feels BIG. You can bet on Saturday morning, though I won’t be sending the biggest boys out onto the field, I will be sending boys with a great deal of passion. And possibly a slingshot!