Breaking the Limits - Beyond

This weekend I learned first-hand that I can do far more than I ever thought I could. Finding this out was very freeing and opened my eyes to a new whole world of possibilities, not anything specific, but a general question of, "What can I now do I didn't think I could before?" Limits were removed, labels fell away, and I saw myself anew.

Sunday afternoon I joined my roommate and her young adult group on a trip to Glen Eden Beach, south of Lincoln City. While people unloaded their bags around our chosen spot, I took my camera down to the shore to take pictures. I love photography. It is much like poetry. In both, you bring people's attention to beauty they might have missed. When I was satiated with that, I walked back up and joined a frisbee game a couple of people had going. I also love frisbee. It is so much fun! We were tossing it back and forth in a large circle which included a very skilled stranger who had joined us in the fun. Then someone came up with the bright idea of altering the game to ultimate frisbee. Ultimate frisbee, for those of you who don't know, is similar to football in that you want to get the frisbee to your team's goal. Like in basketball, you can only take two and a half steps until you have to throw to a teammate. There is no tackling.

Let me paint another picture for you. Me in the ninth grade. Actually, this probably goes for anytime from fifth grade on. I was not sports inclined- to say the least. I had low self-confidence which was convenient as it matched my low place on the social totem pole. I was the one slowing walking back and forth along the basketball court trailing behind the kids zipping back and forth. I did this because I had to, but I hated it. My mind was usually somewhere far away.

Slowly over the years, my youth group's softball games helped, I have become much more comfortable getting in the middle of a game and having fun doing it. Still, running up and down a HUGE field of sand did give me a half a moment of pause. But that was it. I hardly even noticed it, I just thought, "Fun!" This thought alone surprised me later when I realized how much I'd grown. But that wasn't the end of it. Soon after the game started, I helped my team of three get a goal. I was so excited! Then after a lot of running up and down the field, we were a little tired by this time, the other team got a goal. We were now tied. I then found myself near the goal racing to catch the white frisbee above me. Not only did I catch it, but when I caught it, I was within the two and a half steps of the goal. I leaped across the goal line and commenced jumped up and down wildly, shouting the whole time. A little thing for another person, a HUGE thing for me. I made a goal. Me! No longer am I inept at sports, but I can do it! Not only can I make the goal. But I can make the winning goal! I am that cool, I can play sports and love doing it! Bring it on!

The other thing I learned this weekend was not to underestimate the mountains I can climb. In this case, literally. My two friends, Sean and Julie, and I do a lot of hiking together. Yesterday was our first one of the season and our chosen path led up to Angel's Rest in the Columbia Gorge. The guidebook said it was a 1,400 feet ascent in 2.3 miles and then you backtrack that for the way down. That's a lot and I was nervouse. I had a dress rehearsal for a dance show the next day and didn't want to dance for two and a half hours on sore legs. But let me tell you, the climb wasn't that hard and it was worth it. Step by step, joy by joy, we walked the trail and enjoyed the magnificent view at the top. It would not have been my first choice to start the season with. I would have started with something simpler, not so challenging. But now I'm glad we started with this one because for the rest of the season, I'll look at the more challenging hikes and think, "No problem! We can do that!" We broke the my self-contained limits first thing out of the gate. It will make a difference for the rest of the year.

I don't tell you this just to share a neat adventure, though it was. These were limits I had placed on myself, which for me, also represents limits I put on myself in my life. Making that goal and climbing that viewpoint showed me the person I really am, the one God sees fully, who is so much bigger than who I see myself to be. I am sure this is true for all of us. We put so many limits on ourselves, even backed up with previous history. But don't let your past limit who you become now and in the future. You can still do things you never thought you could.