Volleys

   The closer we get to something, or someone, the quicker (and I argue, the better) our reaction needs to be. This happens during volleying in tennis. The balls arrive quickly, and you need to react in order to keep the ball in play, let alone strike a winner. It's true for getting closer to people too. Feelings can arrive with a certain quickness the closer you get to someone. It can be unexpected, the pressure we feel when someone relies on us not unlike the pressure in tennis when that volley arrives near you. 

   We are quick to judge our family members and best friends yet often give complete strangers the benefit of the doubt. We are quick to react to our own kids' misbehavior yet more forgiving and slow to anger when it's other people's children. We struggle to be better spouses, siblings and parents but easily manage to take up the task of being the best at work or sport. We are closer physically and emotionally to our loved ones...yet that comfort and familiarity sometimes program us to lose sight of the right reaction. I think a similar thing happens in tennis during a volley shot. Most tennis players struggle at the net, not so much with the mechanics but with the response. Because they have to react in a timely manner, there is little time to prepare their placement and to observe and outsmart their opponent.  

"But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it."

Deuteronomy 30:14

   As I read this passage from the Bible, I am struck by how much we miss by not observing what's right in front of us. Yesterday, my husband and kids spent half the day looking for the misplaced TV remote. We looked in all the usual, knee-jerk places we usually look. Then we looked beyond the usual to under the couch, in the cabinets and even upstairs and in the dining room. The entire time, the remote was underneath the TV stand hidden well because it blended in with everything else. How often do we react poorly to someone close to us or have a volley winner within reach, but miss because we don't really observe? We have the skills in our toolbox, the words in our mouth...but we fail to come through as we should. We all can benefit from better reactions, even during quick-thinking or heated moments. How do we accomplish that? Do we slow down? Perhaps we do less instead of always trying to do more (like over-react). It's something I too struggle with, even if I enjoy a good volley now and then.