I took my two oldest grandchildren who are three and four to the YMCA recently. My plan was to workout for forty-five minutes while they played in the childcare room. However, when we arrived I found out that the childcare room was closed.
So, I told my grandchildren that we would go to the basketball court to play.
I grabbed some balls from the front desk, which included a regular basketball, and a small foam ball. We ran up and down the court playing dodge ball and tried several times to make the ball go into the hoop. My four-year-old grandson had his heart set on making a basket with the foam ball. However, it was just too difficult to make a basket on a full size basket court with such a lightweight ball.
After awhile, I told the children it was time to go. We gathered our belongings and the balls to take back to the front desk. Once I handed the desk attendant the regular size basketball, I turned to my grandson to tell him to turn in the foam ball. When I turned to my grandson he had big giant tears in his eyes and he said to me “but I didn’t make a basket. I want to make a basket”.
I tried to soothe him. I told him it was just too difficult to make a basket with the foam ball. I had already tried unsuccessfully to find a lower basketball. But, after a few moments of hesitation I said, “Okay let’s try again for just a few more minutes”.
The tears were replaced with a giant smile and leaping feet to the basketball court.
My grandson tried several times to make a basket, even with me holding him up, but no basket. I finally told him “only one more try, because we have to go”. Well on that last try my grandson with all his four-year-old might made a basket with the small foam ball. The three of us clapped for joy and I told my grandson how proud I was of his determination.
This whole experience made me think that as adults, myself included, sometimes we lack the determination to follow through. We make resolutions on January 1, and by mid February we feel like failures because we allowed the busyness of life, and pressures from work to push our New Years resolutions to the back burner.
Since that day, I have had my grandson’s look of determination and can-do spirit forever etched into my memory, moving me forward, to be determined to do the right things for my spirit, soul and body. I want to be determined to follow after all that God has purposed for me. To believe what God believes for me.
If you have a resolution that is slipping away into the abyss, grab it back and be determined. Remember, if a four old can make a basket with a little foam ball, on a full size adult basketball court, you too can fulfill your resolution with a little determination.
Grow, bloom and flourish,
Kimberly Bloom
