Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Jump Ropes

Two days ago I watched little Marcus jumping rope. I'm pretty sure he had never done it before. At first, he could only successfully jump the rope three times in a row. But eventually he kept beating his record and successfully jumping the rope more and more times in a row. But what intrigued me was that each time he "beat his record" it was always by one jump. First he jumped 3 in a row, then 4 in a row, then 5 in a row, then 6, then 7, then 8. Each time he "beat his record" it was only by one jump; he never "beat his record" by two, three, four etc. And of course, in between his "record breaking" he would mess up and only jumped one, or none, or 3 etc. But despite his failed attempts, he remained persistent and determined that maybe in his next attempt he would beat his score. And so he kept trying again and again and again and sure enough, he would beat his last record by one jump.

Why tell you this story?

Because while I was sitting there I thought to myself. Hmm....
This reminds me of what our spiritual life ought to look like. We are called to grow in holiness and become living saints. (by Gods grace; but not without a bit of effort on our part). And as we make the effort to achieve this, it usually doesn't happen all at once. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were saints. For most people, growth in holiness usually will happen in baby steps; ever so slightly. We will grow in holiness and sanctity little by little just like Marcus beat his record by one jump every time instead of beating his record by seven.
Was Marcus upset that he only beat his last record by one jump every single time? Not at all! He was just happy that he beat it. So too, we ought not to be upset that we didn't grow in sanctity and holiness by "7 jumps" but instead we should rejoice and be content in the "one jump" improvement.
Did Marcus get upset every time he failed to beat his record? Nope. And neither should we when we try, fail and don't see improvement. Instead of sulking and crying woe is me I'm a failure, we should be like Marcus, and get back to jumping with an even greater hope of improving next time.
We ought to have the same perseverance and determination that Marcus had. He was absolutely convinced that it was possible to break his record again and again. So he kept it going with this confidence. We too ought to be absolutely convinced and have this same confidence that God, working through our efforts, will make us into living saints. And this is true for everyone. Every single human being that walks the face of this earth has the potential to become a great and holy saint. Yes, that includes you too. So pick up your jump rope with me and let's get jumping!

By the way, I changed the boy's name to "Marcus" for the safety and privacy of the child.

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