Day 291- A Double Under First

When I came home from doing some things I needed to do today, Laura, Hannah Grace, and Joel were jumping rope in the driveway.  After I got the groceries out of the car (with help from them), I jumped with them for a while.  Knowing I needed a "first," I decided to try for one with the jump rope.  Remembering the other day when I thought about jumping the rope twice on one jump, I decided I would try that for my "first."  Laura said that is called a double under in the jump roping world. It is where the rope passes under your feet twice on the same jump. I attempted a double under for my "first" today.

I missed on the first try. I actually got it on the 2nd try.  However, I was unable to keep jumping so I disqualified that one.  Much to my surprise, I managed a double under on the third try and continued to jump rope.  After that, I tried it a few more times with moderate success.  After about 5-10 more tries, I nearly passed out. Wow, it does not take long attempting double unders to get a guy like me seriously winded.  Of courses, it does not take a whole lot of much to get a guy like me pretty winded. 

It was kind of cool that I could still do this. When I was in high school, I could do this much easier.  Double unders are a different animal at my age than they were when I was 17. My double unders today were not pretty nor consistent, but I still managed to get it.  With some conditioning and practice, I'm sure I could improve. I'm also pretty sure I don't want to improve enough at this particular skill to do much conditioning and practicing.

As I thought about this "first," I thought about how I probably could get better at double unders with some work, but it simply is not worth it to me.  It is not a skill that will improve my life much.  Of course, if I worked hard at it I'm sure my physical conditioning would improve, but I can do that in ways that are much more fun and not nearly as boring.  Some things in life simply require too much effort for what they are worth to me.  One of the keys to life is finding the thing that is worth doing and doing that well.  So, what is worth doing well? When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said this (Mark 12: 29-31), "Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

Since Jesus said those things were the greatest, they are worth giving our best to doing.  Worshipping Jesus and getting to know Him is not some sideline event that we do on Sunday. That should be right at the heart of our lives.  Loving people is not something that is simply kind of nice to do.  That should be something we need to give our hearts and lives to do.  There are a lot of things that we can seek to be good at.  There are a lot of things that clamor for our attention.  Let's make sure that loving God and loving others is not pushed to the side for a lesser goal.

Pressing on toward the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Fingernail clippers
2. Jesus telling us what the greatest commandment is
3. Sweet notes from friends