There is something that happens when you know you have made the team. Usually this process is so subtle that you don’t even know it has happened. Yet on reflection there is something important on that we often miss. I caught part of this picture as I watched the transition that Carli went through trying out for the varsity softball team for the second year.
In many ways she should have known that everything would probably follow a reasonably predictable script. She knows the coach, gets along well with the other potential players, and as continued to improve from last season. Having said this, it was still a competitive tryout and nothing was a certainty. The emotions begin to lift with each cut! After the final one the confident, disciplined, and spring in her step daughter returned. Welcome back!
I don’t see anyone as being that different. Do I belong, really belong, to the team at work or am I just a piece in the wheel? Am I part of the “in” crowd or am I just a casual spectator? Even at home, am I part of the family?
The obvious answer to every question is yes but I wonder about the answer of the soul. We rarely lie to ourselves about this; we know what the real answer is even if we cannot form the shape of the sound with our mouths and throats. I doubt the questions end there. The obvious one we never talk about is this. If I carry doubts about my relationships with those closest to me what about my relationship with God. Does God even know who I am? Does God really care? Am I part of God’s team?
We may have doubts but there is no doubt on God’s part. The Divine’s words are clearly individual.
“Conquerors will march in the victory parade, their names indelible in the Book of Life. I’ll lead them up and present them by name to my Father and his Angels.” (Revelation 3.4)
This is you and I; if we want it to be.
