F.A.M.I.L.Y.

Forget

About

Me

I 

Love

You

Many thanks to David Walker who first shared this phrase with me through my candidate TEC experience. I'm sure many of you have heard this phrase, especially if you are involved with the TEC movement.

I don't know if I've mentioned the comparison of being a channel or an instrument of God's grace, love, peace, joy, agape... In the recent past have stumbled across the expression of not being so much a conduit, but rather a reservoir of the blessings that flow within and through us. We have to retain some things for ourselves, and when the time is right, share out of what has been stored up within us. 

So, six years later, this acronym has been shared a few times over the past week, with the volleyball girls. We have a tendency of not being very mentally tough. Meaning, when things don't go our way, or we make a mistake, we tend to dwell on the negative and lose our focus on the next ball coming over the net. At the same time, we don't always say 'team' in huddles, but 'family'. So how do we act and play as a family? The girls have not perfected this concept, but I hope they can begin to apply it on the court and in their everyday lives. 

Forget about me: stop dwelling on my mistakes, the past, and don't be putting blame on someone else for something that did not go right. Forget about wanting the attention, the glory, the best play of the game, or even to get your hand on the ball every volley. Forget about what your teammates, coaches, the people in the stands are thinking about you. 

I love you: the opposite of love is selfishness, so love must be associated with selflessness. I'm going to show you that I love you through my actions, my playing well on the court, my doing good for the good of my team, focusing on the next play, putting forth effort, playing hard, complimenting my teammates for their effort and accomplishments, not wanting anything in return. 

A lesson I have had to learn on multiple occasions is that when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, the best thing for us to do is not to pout or treat ourselves to something special. The best thing for us to do is to do good for someone else: open the door for a stranger, smile, say hello, ask a person how their day is going, compliment some one, do a hidden act of kindness (my favorite), and the list can go on.

Praise God for opening my eyes to ways in which to instill virtue in those I am able to influence from day to day. All Glory be to God, The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit.