Blisters

"Drowning means suffocating. And if we choose to stay underwater without kicking our way to the surface, we eventually forget how to swim."

Our Xman started baseball practice with a new team last week. By the end of the second practice, his hands were covered in blisters (that picture is a week of healing - I spared us all the visual of the early days). 

New batting gloves, bad bat tape and a motion he hasn't done in some time created the perfect trio to tear up his hands. 

He hasn't missed a practice. 

See the only way to really heal those hands is to push through. We need the blisters to callus over and for his hands to toughen up. 

You know how you get tough? You keep at it. 

Each day before practice, we cover them in liquid bandage, gauze, and athletic tape. Each night after practice, we slather them in antibiotic ointment and give them air. We prepare as much as we can, but he still swings a bat MANY times every practice. 

"When you know your WHY, you can endure any HOW."

You see - Xman wants to have a great season. He already feels a sense of commitment to these new kids, to this new team. To do his best. To be ready by game one for the competition they will face. 

I've been thinking this week that there are many parallels between his walk and my spiritual walk. 

Growth is frequently painful. 

We are not a people that embrace change. We like the comfort of the familiar. 

Discomfort is often taken as a sign that something is wrong. 

But what if it is a sign that something is RIGHT?

What if in your discomfort you embraced the idea that God is preparing you for the big challenge you will face? 

What if God is roughing you up a bit so you will be stronger? Tougher? So you develop the kind of roots that withstand any storm? 

What if we thought - this is preparing me for what comes next? 

Mama Warriors, growth is inevitable. I vividly remember telling our now 16 year old that I was going to freeze her on her 4th birthday. But yet the birthdays kept rolling.

Growth is evidence of LIFE.

Is He alive in you if you don't see evidence of growth? 

The blisters will hurt for a bit, the discomfort can be staggering. 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

But the discomfort of today reveals the possibilities of tomorrow.