With All My Might

I lost my last two tennis matches, but that was not the end of this simple story.

During the first of these two matches, my partner and I fell behind 3-5 in the first set. It happened to be my turn to serve and we quickly fell to 0-40, down three set points! Yikes. I really did not want to lose the set so easily so I told myself to keep fighting, one point at a time, even though the chance of coming back from behind and saving the game was rather slim. But I served and we won the next point, and in a blur, we somehow won five points in a row and the game! It felt so great. We were now at 4-5 and would eventually play the tiebreak to decide the set.

On the second point of the tiebreak, I was at the baseline as my opponent placed a very short ball with a sharp angle that was out of my reach. I knew I would not be able to get to the ball in time, but I decided to run after it but ended up scraping my knee quite badly and bruising my pinky because of not-so-ideal movement (I did not get to the ball in time). It was the first time I had ever hurt myself playing tennis. In the end, we lost the tiebreak and went on to lose the second set 4-6. Close match.

The following match, my partner and I lost two tiebreaks so the match was even closer. I did not hurt myself, but I was fighting the entire time. We were behind in the first set, ahead in the second, even though we lost in the end.

Around the same time, I was doing a Bible study on the life of David entitled Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed with my Bible Study group at church (great study!). Right before I played the match in which I scraped my knee, we were studying how David danced with all his might as he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. After a deadly mistake, David returned to God and did his best in following His lead.

As I was chasing down balls on the tennis court, trying to play the points the best I could, trying to come back, I was doing it with all my might as well. Although I lost the matches and had some trouble walking for a couple of days, I felt really great because I knew I had done my best in doing what I was supposed to be doing at the moment.

A fundamental rule in tennis is to fix one's eyes on the tennis ball during play and go after it. The Bible says that we are to love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. When we fix our eyes on God, pursue Him and give Him our all, we might scrape our knees a little along the way, but it is well worth it.