Hop Up! You Are Strong Enough

As a parent it is difficult to watch your child struggle. My youngest daughter has consistently been on the small side. She has remained in the 2nd percentile for her age throughout her life. People see her and think she is so cute. In 3rd grade she was confused as a kindergartener. She hates this, “Mom! They call me small.” And it is true, she is small. She may be petite, but she is quick and athletic. She played soccer in a recreational league, and is often half the size of the other players her age. We tried to get her to use her size, quickness, and agility to her advantage,  but sometimes, her efforts failed. Girls were bigger, more skilled, and more powerful. One particular game had a host of athletes who were more aggressive than anyone she was used to playing (arguably too aggressive). Apparently one girl grabbed her forearm, digging her nails into her skin as she pushed her way toward the ball. The girls could out move, out pass, and out push her. This game was beyond her ability. And yet, she had to finish the game. There was no substitute available this game able to relieve her. The ref was a young high school kid who lacked experience and vision for everything that was happening. She just kept getting out-pushed, and looking at me on the side-line with those big eyes saying “Mom, I can’t do this.”

I looked at her and yelled on the field. “You have to get up! Get in there and go for the ball. Don’t be afraid. Go for it.” Her eyes welled up, how could I not save her? How could I not give her a comforting hug? I watched her get pushed down again. “Hop up! You’re ok!” I yelled. Because, at that moment, I knew she would be ok and she had to learn to get up and keep going. 

She did not like that game, but she learned a lot. She saw a different level of play, she got a little tougher, she is not scarred for life. She played again the next week and was out as her normal, goal-scoring, hustling self. She also learned that I was not going to take away the hard – she would have to fight through it. She learned limitations. She also learned that when she gets pushed down, she can hop up again. She can take it. And hard things will end, it won’t be like that forever. She learned she was capable and that I believe in her resilience. I believed she was strong enough to take it.

God does the same for me. In the story of Joseph throughout the end of Genesis, I see a prideful young man become a more humble yet powerful leader of one of the greatest nations of the ancient world, Egypt. He saved his family. God did not take away any hard thing that Joseph would go through: injustice, imprisonment, threats to his life, intense famine, forgiving his brothers. God didn’t take away the hard, but He was with him through it all and intended all good for Joseph. (Genesis 50:20).

I will do hard things. They will not go away. It will really suck. But good is in the struggle because God is with you in the struggle. He also knows it won’t last forever, and has given you capability and strength to take it.

Hop up, do the work, finish the game.