Thursday, September 4, 2014

A Point to Ponder


“You may not know this, but you are everything you ever needed”

Imagine for a moment you’re behind in a tennis game, about to be broken on serve, with the score reading 30-40. You serve up an ace to knot the score at deuce and fight off the break chance. Imagine doing this repeatedly throughout a match. Every time you get close to going down a break, it’s you who strikes back. There are some players who continually fend off break points, and win matches by a hair. What is it that lifts them up in those moments and keeps them from losing it? I think it’s the same stamina, perseverance and will that propel us through life’s near breaks. Do you ponder these points only when you are forced to withstand them, or do you actively seek to avoid such pivotal situations?

I like to think as the great Yankee Yogi Berra did: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” is a great catchphrase for the positive, persevering mind. I often wonder if we truly believe that though. Yesterday I was watching Serena Williams topple Flavia Pennetta in the U.S. Open quarterfinal. Williams all but had the match in the bag after the first few games of the second set even though the match wasn’t officially in the books. How do we determine the point where we can no longer fend off a break? Have you ever stood by as someone’s life completely fell apart, point after point? Some of the time, there is more than meets the eye. Underneath the surface of our lives, of our serves, often lies the inability to fend off the break. You can come out on the other side knotted at deuce, avoid the situation entirely or declare it over before the end begins. The outcome is all in what you believe, and that is the main point to ponder.

“But we’ll come back alive, ‘cause only the strong survive”

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