Pure Joy in All Things

I met an amazing kid a few months ago. He is eight years old and one of the smallest eight year olds I know. He doesn't have a lot of coordination, his speech is sometimes a little hard to understand and he isn't all that great at the game of basketball. That's where I met him, when I was helping to coach my son's basketball team. This young man was one of our seven players.

Like I said, basketball isn't his thing, and I am not sure that any sport will be. His shots were "granny shots" to say the least, and he had a hard time dribbling without the ball getting ahead of him and then landing on the court, knees first. But he had FUN and didn't give up! When one of his shots made it through the net, the smile on his face just lit up the room! When he got the ball in hand, his determination was something we could all use! He just kept going and going and going.

Most of the other boys were going for fancy three pointers and under the leg dribbling during practice, but this little one just plodded along. He improved a little by the end of the season, not a lot, and didn't make any amazing plays or dunk shots.

He did, however, change my life a little.

If I could for just one moment, be that joyful in my life, I would give my weight in lollipops to know what that feels like. His joy, even when he was frustrated, he had a joy that eminated out of him. Life is really simple...just give it all you've got and have fun with it!