Miss dA point

By Christine Jayakaran

A few days back my daughter came running in from playing outside with friends and collapsed into tears. She said that none of her friends including her older brother were passing the ball to her. I sent her out after comforting her and telling her to be tough and stand up for herself.

An hour later my children come in from playing and the older two begin arguing about something. As I sit down to mediate, my son explains that he is irritated by how Celeste stormed off in the middle of a game of dodge ball without a word to the rest of the players. Celeste shouts back saying that it's not fair that she never got the ball. I was curious as to why she thought she needed the ball in hand since well, it's dodgeball. I asked her to explain the game that she was playing. She said she was in the centre- the players were all around her and that didn't throw the ball to her but were bouncing it near her legs to pass it to another player who was behind her!! (I know!!! She's hilarious) I kissed her sweet face and explained what dodge ball really was and that she had kinda missed the point of the game and so had lost out on a precious hour of delightful jumping, dodging and throwing a ball with friends- who were really just playing the game and who were by no means- her enemies!!

How often are we like that? I mean we just miss the point of our lives. We assume that everyone is our enemy when they are just people doing their own thing and sharpening us in the process. We misread signals from someone who just needs a friend - we decide they are needy and steer clear of them. We read between lines that are non existent and imagine things that are ridiculous instead of just taking things at face value. We look at our personal mess ups as things to sweep under a rug when maybe disclosure will help someone else own up to their failure and find comfort. We think that because we don’t see immediate results in our newest venture that we are failures but don't see the opportunities that this venture is giving those who were previously unrecognised and invisible. We assume we did something wrong to deserve our present suffering when in reality our endurance and persistence will set us up for bigger wins and a braver heart . We look at our blessings with gratitude but what if those blessings were more of a way of blessing others?

We sometimes walk the paths of life cheerfully ignorant of our bigger purpose or in tense survival mode just barely making it through each day. Either way we would entirely miss the point of our existence. You and I were given our struggles for us to grow- yes but it's more than that. We have been given certain benefits and favours that are meant not just for us. If we could just peep out of our little bubbles for a second and not make everything about ourselves we would see just how powerful our lives can be. Who knows? In time- that bubble may pop and you will discover the 'point' for this beautiful thing called life.