Splat!

By Shirley Mitchell

“The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.”

Psalm 37:23-24

My daughter Sophia is a beautiful gymnast. When she goes onto the gym floor, it seems like rays of glistening light are coming from her because she enjoys it so much. In this sport, gymnasts compete in four events – vault, beam, floor and the bars. Sophia’s favorite event is the bars. This event is usually the hardest for most girls, but she relishes it.

My husband found a t-shirt that said this:

Baseball – 9 innings

Football – 4 quarters

Basketball – 2 halves

Gymnastics – 1 chance

This shirt says it all. Gymnasts train harder than any other sport I’ve seen. Sophia is in the gym 10-12 hours a week. They train 52 weeks out of the year and don’t take a season or even a vacation off. When they compete, hundreds of hours of training all come down to the next minute and for some events, the next 10 seconds.

In Sophia’s first season, she had many successes. She walked away from the gym meets with either a 1^st or 2^nd place trophy for the all-around and usually four medals for the individual events. She even won the state meet for all-around and of course, the uneven bars.

However, Doug’s proudest moment of her was not when she walked away with a first place trophy. His proudest moment was at one of her toughest meets where the competition was great. Sophia stepped up to the bars, saluted the judges, and started her routine with a pull over and a leg cut. She did a perfect mill circle. She was on her way to a beautiful routine when one of the worst possible things that can happen to a gymnast and the heart of her father happened. Her hand slipped on the bar, and Sophia fell on her dismount. Because it was during a move, she had some speed to her, and she couldn’t catch herself when she fell. There was no time. One split second she was on the bars; the next split second she was head down face in the mat.

Sophia didn’t cry and get upset. Sophia didn’t start shaking and get rattled. She didn’t want to give up, and she didn’t want to hide. Instead, she immediately got up and off the mat, jumped back onto the bars, and finished her routine. Doug said it was such a pretty fall. The motion was so fluid it was almost like the fall was part of her routine. She continued on and finished her routine. Even though the fall was a huge deduction (0.5), she still got a 9.1. Out of all the many things she accomplished this year and all the hard work she put into her sport, this was her daddy’s proudest moment. He was so proud that she didn’t cry, shrink back, crumble, and quit. 

My friend, I believe our Father God feels the very same way.  When we fall flat on our face, and jump right back up and continue on, our Abba is so proud of us. He knew that we were headed for a fall. Yet, in His infinite wisdom, He allowed it to happen. Sometimes our falls may be very public just like Sophia at the big gym meet with hundreds of people. Our falls humble us. They test us to see what kind of character we have. Will we get right back up and continue on in our Christian walk? Will we resolve to stick it out with God? 

God uses every part of our lives to bring Him glory.  When we give Him our falls and failures, He takes the things of life that seem to be unusable and maybe even a serious “deduction” in our pursuit of godliness. He can make them beautiful and make them seem like a part of our “routine,” an important part of our life story. 

Our tendency is to hide our falls, deny them, and dissolve them. We want time to pass so we get over the pain of the moment and be able to say that we have grown so much since then. God can do so much more than this! Not only does He want to heal the deep wound of our falls, but He also wants to bring good from them. He would not have allowed them to happen unless something of kingdom value was at stake.

So my friend, what are some of the biggest falls of your life? What are some of your most painful “splats?” Did God show you what kind of character you had through them? Are you letting God use them for His kingdom purposes? Frankly, I have many, many splats. In some form, God uses them all. Maybe I’ve never shared them with others, but I draw from them in ministry. My biggest falls have also shown me that I am not a quitter. I’ll keep on pursuing God and trusting Him no matter what. So let’s view our next falls (because you know they are coming – it’s life) as God’s opportunities to expose our character and to be used for kingdom value. 

Pray with me: Oh, Almighty God, we praise You. You are majestic! You are breath-taking! You can make us soar, cast, and glide like a gymnast on the bars. Father, we ask that You make our lives a beautiful blessing to You. We want to make You proud of Your sons and daughters. Make our steps firm, and hold us with Your hand. We ask that You take the biggest splats of our lives where we have fallen flat on our faces and use every part of them for kingdom value. Expose our character. Refine it to be more like You. Give us a heart that desires to continue on with You no matter what happens. All of this we pray in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Copyright ©2011 Christ Compels Ministry