Six months ago, a young man from Plano, Texas asked my
parents if he could court me. I thought that gesture was the perfect
introduction for my parents to the man I had come to adore in the short time we
had known each other. It wasn’t long at all before I discovered how perfect
this man was for me. The first time I challenged him to a tennis match, he
accepted. He may have regretted that
decision initially, though his confidence was soaring when the score read
“love-love”. I flirted with perfection in that match, nearly defeating him 6-0,
6-0. He did manage one game off of me, an impressive feat considering he hadn’t
actually taken a single tennis lesson his entire life. On the other side of the
court, I had toiled since age seven through tennis lessons, camps, clinics and
competitions. After our first match, I realized I had created a monster, or
fueled the competitive monster within him. It was a good monster though; the
kind that gets his kicks on the tennis court and stays in line when off the
court. He’s one of the “good” ones. I’m
certain he’s a keeper. I finally have the
perfect partner in all things and our future together is an auspicious one.
A rally is a sequence of shots within a point. The completion of a point changes the score.
There are short rallies in life where we feel a slow rise to the top, only to
later discover it was a momentary high.
The score may change, but it’s not the ideal outcome. Other rallies end
suddenly or slowly in defeat, leaving us dejected and discouraged. Rallies are difficult
to sustain. Before I met Robert, I wondered if I could stay the course. I had
fallen short of the perfect rally many times before. I had bailed early or not
early enough. Sometimes I rallied persistently but was easily victorious over a
non-pursuing opponent. More often, I walked away from the courts and rallies
that had no signs of persisting. The
returns were too shallow to sustain.
God brought Robert into my life in such an unpredictable and
unexpected way. It was as if our Lord had disguised and planted the perfect
drop-shot in my court, and I had to rush to meet it. I did meet it, with a
rally I had never known could persist so fully. Robert is persistent. This persistence
is what initially drew me to him, though having dimples certainly helped his
case. He persistently works on his serve and reminds me a lot of myself in his
approach to the game. It’s refreshing to know there is another like-minded
tennis stickler out there. Robert is gaining ground on me. His persistent game
is perfecting itself with each match. I love watching him rally with me. I even
hope he defeats me one day because with him, I can never truly lose. That’s why
he’s the perfect opponent no matter what the score.
Robert’s rallies are the kind that can last forever. They’re
as engaging and fetching as he is. One of the first memories I have of him is
his charming, well-intentioned and successful attempt to extend our second date
into a six hour affair. He is so adept and savvy when it comes to life’s
important moments beyond the baseline. On the court, he challenges my return of
serve and backhand slice. Robert brings a kind of rhythm to my game (he even
dances to music on the court when prompted) and puts the beat in my heart over
and over again. Robert is also a wealth of knowledge and is constantly trying
to improve his game by observing the pros (always an admirable quality in the
best of tennis players and people). He invests his heart into everything and
this is perhaps what I love most about him.
The Lord has constructed us the perfect rally, a
complementary give and take relationship both on and off the court. As God’s children,
we can’t often see His ways early in the game. The first set is not always an
indication of the final result. It’s rare to establish “court” in the first
set. Though, somehow, someway, that set comes along where we flirt with
perfection and just know what the
final result will indicate. God’s ways are always perfect and I feel as if I am
flirting with perfection when Robert and I take the court. The rallies that
sustain and persist are the ones that hold the most meaning. The indefectible,
perfect ones. The sequences of shots that don’t reflect in the score but still
completely changes you are the ones to embrace in this life.
“Just know that I’m always parallel on the other side”
