When I get a mid-morning face-time call I know it’s one of two things. It’s either Phoenix calling to talk or Linds or Dugan calling to show me something Eva is doing. Thursday morning was about Eva. It took a minute to figure out what I was looking at, but when I did, without even thinking, I started holding my breath. So did Charlie, a team member I was in a meeting with.
We watched Eva work to move her eyes around a screen, trying to get to a bubble with my picture in it. She was in vision therapy and the therapist was helping Eva train her brain to move her eyes. I was on the left side of the screen, a place to which Eva seldom moves her eyes to. And so for the next 60-90 seconds we all watched an arrow move around the screen, an arrow indicating where Eva was looking. We encouraged her and cheered for her while we waited for her eyes to get to my bubble. She concentrated, scrunched her eyebrows and worked and worked and worked. Until she got to me. And when I popped, it was a moment of celebration.
There is something spectacular about a physical/mental achievement. I include mental because most physical achievements involve a mental discipline. I watched and cheered as Lindsay finished the Chicago marathon. I watched and cheered as my daughter, Breezy, pitched a no hitter for her softball team. I watched and cheered as Dugan returned to the Little League home plate after getting hit in the mouth by a fastball in the previous game.
Cheering for people is so fun, comes so naturally…but, it seems as though, we only cheer when they’re doing something physical or something outside their comfort zone. But if it has to do with a mental or emotional goal such as working to overcome an addiction, sludging towards forgiveness, fighting depression I have learned to be quietly supportive, to be a listener, to be prayerful. Which, of course, hands down, I want to do, but I also want to cheer them along the way.
I know that when people are in the middle of pain and struggle a smile can appear insensitive. But I gotta believe that there’s a place for cheering in the halls and on the sidewalks of our ongoing lives, to cheer throughout the process, not just for the end product. There is no way that I would have waited for Eva to finally pop my bubble to then suddenly start cheering. Or just to whisper words of encouragement along the way, assuring her that I’m praying for her. She needed to hear us cheer her on in the process. It assured her that she can do it, she’s not alone, and she will complete it, with God’s help. And with our cheering.
Strongholds are no easy thing to overcome. Believe me, I know this. But I also know, from first hand observational experience, training a damaged brain to do what doctors said was impossible, is equally challenging. So if I cheer for Eva and her ongoing goals, why would I not cheer for friends who are working towards their goals. I believe both goals, all kinds of goals, need us to get our cheer on with our biggest smiles. “You got this! I know you’ll get it! Almost there! Keep going! If not today, you’ll get it tomorrow or the next day. I know you will! You can do this!!”
What would it be like to live in a world where we cheer each other on for anything and everything? I think we would suddenly find ourselves living lives that feel and are unstoppable. Because we are surrounded by a football stadium of fans, cheering us on to victory.
Well, I don’t know about anybody else, but that’s the kind of place I’d like to live. So if anyone else wants to get their cheer on with me, I’ve got bleacher seats reserved and ready to go.
Comments