Life lessons

I'm not big on jumping into the deep end with my eyes closed. It scares the daylights out of me.

But my family and I are part of an amazing group of believers who are also martial artists. The head of our school, our Soke, seems to think it's good to grow.

Which I'm all for... except that deep end, eyes closed jumping.

So he sort of shoved me~ nicely~ off that diving board.

And David and I landed in our first martial arts competition this past Saturday.

My hubby not only looked formidable, he also took ownership of his ring and came out with a second place trophy!

Way to go honey!!!

I came out of the entire experience having learned some valuable lessons.

The first is Do Your Best The FIRST time.

Circumstances converged to shake my confidence, and I didn't adjust. I stayed shaken and technically did a good job with my traditional form~ so says my husband. He's sort of biased, though.

But I knew inside I'd not done my best. And I was ticked at myself.

God was gracious and gave me a second chance. I'd tied for third, and a trophy was on the line.

So I got out there and gave it my all. I earned a score I'm proud of and experienced the difference between good and best.

It's a lesson I won't forget.

The second lesson is to never stop learning.

One of my favorite people in our martial arts school inspires me to keep reaching higher and learning more. She's graceful, amazingly strong (I have bruises to prove it) and such a beautiful person inside and out.

Julia is the kind of person who teaches by example and encouragement. I want to be more like her as I grow in martial arts.

The last lesson I'll articulate here is to cheer for others~ loudly.

No matter what you're doing, sometimes the difference between giving up and giving your all is someone in the crowd cheering for you.

I want to be the person whose words spur others on and strengthen them to do their best.

So that's my goal for the next tournament: Do my best the first time, keep learning, and cheer others on~ loudly.

It's my goal for all of life too.

One last thing I learned... martial artist have pretty good taste in books. Don't ya think? ;-)