Social Media has its ups and its downs. I’m a firm believer
in it’s in how you use it and what you do with the information it provides you.
Over the past several weeks I’ve seen a lot of people walking through some really
tough times in their lives. The only way I knew about these hurts and health
issues was because of social media. Friends have posted about losing a loved
one or being in the hospital was some very serious issues. My initial response
was to do what many people do and just post a response back of “I’m praying for
you.” That got me to wondering, how many people say “I’m praying for you” but
how many actually stop and pray. In
today’s society has that phrase become a lot like “How are you?” and everyone
responds back with “I’m good.” It’s just
become automatic. It had for me. At some
point it just became the automatic statement that I’d type or that would just
fall out of my mouth. A few weeks ago I
realized that had to stop. As I was posting to a friend, “I’ll pray for you and
your family,” I actually stopped and prayed right then and there and it only
took a minute.
As the week continued I was challenged to find others ways
to reach out and support my friends and our athletes. We had one athlete who
was having an extended stay in the hospital. My coach and I had Tweeted with
him and had been praying for him but I knew we needed to brighten his day and
the day of his sweet mom who hadn’t left his side, so I sent flowers. That phone call to the florist only took a
minute but yet its impact was huge.
Every day there is someone you know that is walking through something
in their life that is causing them to hurt or be discouraged. As the wife of a
coach that world of hurts and discouragement expands beyond the traditional
group of friends and family to those of the athletes and their families as
well. The challenge then lies in finding
out who is hurting and how you can help to make a difference. I’ve found
through the years that sitting in the stands in and around the parents I can
hear what’s going on in the lives of the athletes off the field. I also follow
them on Twitter. It’s amazing what you can learn on Twitter. When I hear or see
those things that are impacting the life of the student I stop right then and
pray for him/her and then will even Tweet back a word of encouragement and to
let them know he/she is being prayed for.
It only takes a minute and the
athlete knows that you love and care for him/her both on and off the field and
the realization is made that my coach and I want to be a part of his/her life
always and not just while they are in season of their particular sport.
This week I got to see that lasting connection in action. As
the college kids are coming home from school they are stopping by to say hello
and some are even coming “home” for dinner. My coach and I got to have family
dinner with two former athletes this week.
It was fun to see how much they have grown up and was also heartwarming
that they were looking to us for advice.
This was because we had invested in them while they were in high school
and they understood that that investment didn’t stop on the last play of the
game their senior year. They are a part
of our family forever.
Hurts don’t stop just because the season does. Our athletes
become our children. It doesn’t matter if you played a certain position on the
team what matters is that you were on the team and the team is family. So I encourage you to look out for athletes
and to take a minute to pray, Tweet, send a note, send flowers, or send
something. Just take a minute to do what needs to be done and don’t just make
the automatic statement of “I’ll pray for you.” Actually do it and the watch
the difference that it makes.
Cheering you on,
Laurel
Laurel
No comments:
Post a Comment