I love Humble Pie

I know I've posted about my tennis misadventures before but I just want to get my frustrations and feelings out once again.

Two months ago my good friend and tennis buddy Susan and i played in a big tennis tournament at the start of our fall season. We really felt good about our playing and we were on a roll. After a full day of games, we ended up winning second place (just one point behind the winners). We got our names published in the Tarrant county tennis newsletter, (we would have had our pictures in it too but I had to go pick up Bree from school so I took off early), and we go these cute tennis necklaces for a prize.

Well I'm not telling this story to brag, I'm telling it to give you a background to the real story.

This last Tuesday, Susan and I played in another tennis tournament to end our regular fall season. We were going in with a lot of confidence, but also a lot of pressure. The other teams were telling us how intimidating we were etc, and we had a lot to live up to.

To make a long story short (because it is too painful to give details), we didn't win. We didn't come in second or third. We came in LAST place!! Yes, it is painful and humbling.

I went home on Tuesday feeling pretty crummy about myself. I dreamt about tennis all night and was up at 3AM thinking about it.

Then, I remembered I had to give a lesson this Sunday to the Beehives about self worth. I found a great devotional talk by President Uchtdorf called "Reflections in the water". He starts with telling the story of the ugly duckling. His whole talk is about how we have infinite potential and we are more than what we can see on the outside. We are more than any of us realize because we are daughters (and sons) of God and he knows we have so much potential inside of us. We need to find that potential and go forth in our lives recognizing our worth.

I admit I felt a lot like the ugly duckling on Tuesday. I felt small and worthless. But as I prepared my lesson I realized that tennis does not define who I am. I am more than my tennis score. I do have a lot of potential (and that doesn't come from tennis:)

Here is a handout I am giving with my lesson.