Follow Through in Tennis and In Life

My kiddos enjoying a day of tennis at Ohio State

As summer begins to wind down, I fondly remember the many summers when my kids were growing up that I virtually lived on the tennis courts, sweating buckets in the blazing sun while I adored watching them pursue their favorite sport. When Bryan began high school, I had officially graduated from a soccer mom to a tennis mom! Of course, that also meant that Stephen and Natalie followed in his steps, and that is when I moved my chair permanently from the soccer fields to the tennis courts.

That was what summer was all about for us during those precious years. We did it all, from tennis camps to lessons at the club to summer leagues to USTA tournaments, all to end with a giant bang when they took their annual trek to Cincinnati to see their favorites – Federer, Roddick, Nadal, Sharapova, and the Williams sisters – play in the Western-Southern tournament. At that point, their summer was complete!

What was this obsession with tennis all about? Bryan, in particular, ate, slept, and breathed tennis, and he was an outstanding player too! As a mom, I was so pleased to see their passion focused on something so positive. After all, many of life’s most important lessons are presented through this sport. Players learn practical things like the rewards of hard work and dedication, mental toughness, physical fitness, a positive attitude and sportsmanship, pursuit of excellence, tenacity of spirit, and winning and losing gracefully. At times, I could see these skills transfer into the other areas of their lives, and as a mom, that was so thrilling!

Now, that is follow through!  Go Bryan!

One concept in particular that I observed when my son took lessons from a pro for several years was the idea of follow through. According to Dictionary.com, follow through is a verb phrase (or it can be used as a noun) that means…

a. to carry out fully, as a stroke of a club in golf, a racket in tennis, etc.
b. to continue an effort, plan, proposal, policy, etc., to its completion.

In tennis, the idea of follow through is the final and probably the most important step to ensure the intended direction of the ball and the success of specific techniques, such as spin or slice. I am not going to pretend that I know much about the techniques of tennis, but I just take my son’s word for it that follow through is what makes these techniques work.  A stroke is not complete or successful without follow through.

Natalie is ready for action!

Of course, as my personality always seems to dictate, I find practical and spiritual significance in all of life’s experiences. Life lessons are all around us if we keep our eyes open to them. Naturally, since I have had a struggle with follow through in my own life lately, my mind immediately jumped to Bryan’s tennis coach and the principles he taught him. Now, all I have to do is make the application in my own life.

Here is the scenario, plain and simple: I have struggled with my calling to write. I know I am not the most gifted or talented writer in the world, but I have such a compulsion to write and share the lessons I have learned in life so that others will benefit from the wisdom gained. I want people to see God’s hand on my life so that they may be encouraged and that their faith may be built up. It is not that I have achieved greatness, but I have flubbed up enough times that I want others to learn from my goofs.

OK, so it is not all about my goofiness, but I also want to share insights that the Holy Spirit has laid in my heart to share. It is an overwhelming urge that I cannot contain!

Stephen puts his fancy footwork into action.

The crux of the problem is that while I do plenty of writing, I have not done much sharing. You should see my Pearls for Living file on my laptop! It is chock full of great starts, but not many finished pieces. My intentions are in the right place, but that is not enough to touch lives the way I feel that God has called me to do. How in the world is anyone ever going to be blessed or strengthened by half finished articles stuck on my computer?

Hence, my lesson on follow-through!

As the Holy Spirit has convicted my heart of this inconsistency that I have made a habit, He reminded me of my children’s tennis lessons and how they worked so hard on proper follow through with their strokes. So, that is where I have dropped the ball (no pun intended!). Sure, I have plenty of excuses. But, God knew all of the interruptions I would face in my life when He called me to do this. He wants obedience, not excuses. He wants follow through.

I am committing to you right now that I will finish what I started. From now on, you will see follow through when you follow Pearls for Living.

Bryan graduated this year from Ohio State.  Talk about follow through in real life!

How about you? Do you have areas in your life that you have not followed through to completion?

• Have you put off finishing your degree or looking for a more fulfilling career?
• Are you procrastinating from fulfilling the ministry God has laid on your heart?
• Are you buried under a mountain of clutter because you can’t seem to motivate yourself to organize the mess in your home, closet, garage, desk, etc.?
• Have you given up on losing the last 20 pounds when you have worked so hard so far?
• Where is that book you dreamed about writing all these years? When will you finish it?

We all start with enthusiasm in the beginning, but real success only occurs in the follow through. I want to encourage you to pick it back up, whatever “it” is, and finish what you started. Finish strong!

“As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 NLT

“You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 MSG

“Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.” Philippians 2:16 NLT