The Simple Things

Oh, dear me, dear me. Sometimes I can’t help but be amazed at God’s sense of humor. The other day, a former teammate of mine accepted the head coaching position at a local high school and asked if I would be interested in doing some volunteer coaching in the spring. Of course, I said “yes” without missing a beat! Having had time now to reflect on what this means, I’m both extremely honored and extremely humbled. It seems that only last week I was a high school player, and now here I am with the opportunity to help raise up the next generation of athletes. *big gulp* That’s a lot of responsibility! Coaching always seemed so easy until I had to think about doing it myself!

           

I've always been convinced that every coach has their own particular coaching philosophy. Some can clearly articulate it and some don’t even know what the word “philosophy” means, but everyone has one. I've been thinking about mine, and it really relies on a mantra that’s been instilled in me by many of my coaches – “Do the simple things extraordinarily well, and do them all the time.” I've always been taught that, as a keeper, it’s not really about being able to make that upper 90 save or stopping the penalty kick. Of course, being able to do those things is good, but you don’t build your foundation as a player on them. It’s the simple things – communication, coming for cross balls, and being reliable in saving the shots that should be saved. Everything else is built on these basic abilities, and the trust your teammates have in you (and the trust you have in yourself) comes from you doing them all the time. So you train to do them over and over and over, until you literally do them in your dreams.

In a lot of ways, this a really good philosophy for life, and especially for life with POTS. There are a lot of simple things that need to be done in order to get healthy and stay healthy, and we just need to do them. Sodium. Hydration. Exercise. Taking your medication. None of those things is, by their nature, extraordinary. They’re not expensive. They’re not hard to do. And yet by taking care of these simple things all the time, we see extraordinary results. In the same way, when we neglect to do these simple things, the results can be devastating. These are the foundation of living a full and joyful life with POTS. If you work at doing them all the time, you’ll find yourself confident in your ability to cope with autonomic dysfunction. Houses built on solid foundations don’t crumble during earthquakes.

Matthew 7:24

On a more serious note, I’d like to thank everyone for keeping Meghan Herndon and her family in your prayers. Meghan was called home to the Lord a few days ago. Obviously, her family, friends, and teammates are still grieving their loss, and your continued prayers for their comfort and healing would be much appreciated. I know that at times like these it’s easy to ask, “Why God? Why didn’t you answer our prayers?” The truth is, He did answer them. He just said, “No. Today, my grace will be enough.” And the joy and comfort we receive comes from knowing that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, and that even in the ultimate and inevitable result of the Fall - death – we see beauty and purpose. Through organ donation, Meghan has so far been able to save the lives of three people who were themselves at Death’s door. And most importantly, from what I’ve heard and read about Meghan, I have no doubt that she is now in the presence of God, fully healed and redeemed, filled with the joy that will come when the brokenness of this world passes away.

Meghan, may we meet in the place where Darkness flees.

My name is Amy Swearer, and POTS stole my life. I'm taking it back.