I Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
As a bona fide geek, I’ve never been mistaken for an athlete. I was a cheerleader in grade school, when all you had to to was volunteer. In high school, talent was required, so, that left me off the list.
I took up tennis when I was 30, and even though I loved it, I’ll never progress past a 3.0 level, no matter how many lessons I have.
My decision to start running at the ripe old age of 37 was driven primarily to impress my athletic husband. (not to mention, I want to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon) It’s the one athletic endeavor at which I’ve ever been marginally successful.
The Kennedy children will be a completely different story. Rachel has already tried soccer, dance, and recently added cheer leading to her athletic repertoire.
After the first practice, my husband told me, “We’ve found her niche.” She may not have inherited his athletic prowess, but she gives her absolute best in practice, and today, in game time. Even after telling me, “Mom, my throat is swollen from yelling!”, she was all smiles.
Looking for some inspiration for your young athletes? In my mind, I link Blessed Pier Giorgio and Blessed Pope John Paul II with athletes. Blessed Pier was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying skiing and mountain climbing. Blessed Pope John Paul was known as the “Athlete Pope”, as he climbed mountains, skied, biked, played soccer and volleyball, and even kayaked before becoming a bishop.
Traditionally, our Catholic Church has named Saint Sebastian as the patron saint of athletes. Young men will certainly be impressed by his story of surviving execution by arrows!
My young athlete, along with these favored Saints, remind me that we are called to always give God our best. This applies to athletes, saints, along with homeschooling mommas who dodge Nerf arrows on a daily basis.
I’d love to hear from you this week! Write your post about a favored Saint or beloved Scripture, add a link back here and add your post to the list below. Be sure and spread the love and visit the other participants, too.
Looking for other faith filled link ups? I’ll be stopping by Scripture and a Snapshot, Sunday Snippets, Spiritual Sundays, Hear it on Sunday, Playdates with God,Word Filled Wednesdays, Walk With Him Wednesdays, iFellowship, Planting Mustard Seeds, Good Morning Girls, Inspiration Fridays and Journeys of Faith Fridays.
I don’t have a post to link up, but I thought I’d stop by and say hello.
Neither my husband nor I have any real athletic ability, but our son is showing signs of having said ability. I think he gets it from my father-in-law who has always been athletic, and at 72 he is still very athletic and going strong!
Oh I love to hear about your father in law! How awesome!
The littles of mine are all athletic, and my oldest daughter is a singing wonder. I’m writing about her next week!
Thanks for coming over!
Those pictures are wonderful. Youthful energy and enthusiasm are so precious.
Thanks, Barb! We’re really proud of her!
St Sebastian is one of my favorite saints. I guess since he was a Roman Soldier that they figured armies are teams and use many of the same athletic and teamwork skills.
Thanks for hosting again.
A lot of times, I read about saints and think, “What do they have to do with ……?” For St Sebastian, Catholic Encyclopedia mentioned that he was the patron saint of athletes, because we assumed he had great strength and was very healthy and hardy, surviving an attack of arrows.
The army analogy makes a lot of sense as well!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Whoops! I didn’t read all the way to the bottem of your linky rules, so I didn’t exactly write about a favorite Saint. So I apologize if you must delete me, but I wanted to share may faith journaling post and there are so few places to link up to!
Heck, no, I’m not deleting your post! I don’t ALWAYS write about a Saint … and I LOVED the faith journal.
Thanks so much for coming by and visiting, and for linking up. Hope to see you again soon!
You little girl is such a cutie!! I loved your comment “homeschooling mommas dogging nerf arrows” sounds like a day in my house. I never thought of it as an athletic endeavor, now I”ll have to give it a rethink 🙂
Aww! Thanks! I’m hoping to get a better picture of her in her uniform soon. We have an amazing camera, but even after 6 years, we’re still learning it! Argh! Being inside with flourescent lights didn’t help much.
My boys — oh my! Most ANYTHING can be an athletic endeavor when dealing with them — getting dressed, bathtime, and even story time. They are always climbing, jumping, running, etc. I LOVE being a mother of boys!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
To add another link up: Jennifer Fulwiler hosts a link up on Fridays at conversiondiary dot com
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Thanks so much for stopping by, and for your wonderful post on Confession!
I’m a BIG fan of Jen Fulwiler, and I stop by 7 Quick Takes occasionally, too. It’s fun!
Oh, your first two paragraphs made me giggle…and the Disney run? Not that I’d ever want to run a marathon, but if I did, Disney sounds like a good place to do it!
Really? Not even if you got to dress up like Tinkerbell? It looks Awesome!! 🙂
Cool link-up, Dianna — I’m happy to learn a bit about Saint Sebastian (hadn’t heard of him till now!). As for athletes in the house…we have a whole mix. My husband and youngest son are very athletic. My oldest, not so much…and I’m somewhere in between (although not lately, she says, from her reclining position on the couch!).
I’ve pretty much decided that all of my littles have some athletic talent …. my oldest daughter has musical talent. Not from me, that’s for certain. I prayed while I was PG, “Please God, give her some musical talent.”
She sings, plays piano, gets up and performs like it’s no big deal. I love it!
Thanks for coming by — and thanks for your link up!
LOVE these pics – she’s so stinkin’ cute!
She’s a mess 😉
I always say that I’m a runner because all the grace it requires is putting one foot in front of the other :). That’s about all I can manage. Loved learning about the “Athlete Pope”. Who knew?
You’re right — I’m a total klutz, but I can run. I tell my husband that I’m built for speed, not distance.
I love reading about his younger years …it’s amazing. After his death, soccer games were called off for mourning, because he was once a goalie. It’s awesome.
Thanks for coming by!
I was geeky before the word was heard of… NEVER an athlete. I never had the confidence to even try… But all my kids have various talents. I am amazed and amazed at their God given confidence to try new things.
Enjoyed you post today.
Running is for all ages, all sizes, all speeds! You could definitely do a Couch to 5K. It’s designed to build up slowly.
My girls crack me up — they have no qualms getting up in front of a crowd and singing, dancing, cheerleading, etc. I’m amazed.
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words!
I always look forward to your posts….learning about the Saints…keeps me thinking!
Thanks for your kind words, Rebecca!
Sweet post.
Thanks for coming by, Denise!
I have had the hardest time leaving a comment today! Your site was down for me for a while.
I’m not athletic, but my girls have been in dance for several years, and my husband played sports in high school. It almost makes me want to do something more than walk on the treadmill. Almost.
Thanks for the reminder to always give our best.
When I saw the subject of this post I immediately thought of Tim Tibow. Athletes have a unique opportunity to be a good influence for God and for good. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings,
Charlotte
Blessed Pier Giorgio is so awesome. I read about him in high school when I was working out how my personality fit with my faith.
How have you made running work for you? I’m not athletic, but I want to be. I have such a lack of self-discipline in that area.
So very encouraging!!
You go girl with running!! That is something I love so much about running…..it truly is for everyone if you just start doing it and training.