(Nash watching the high school wrestling meet)
We try our best to keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Of course that means something different to everyone. I think it is up to each family to determine what is or is not appropriate for them. We choose not to shop on Sunday or eat out or go to the movies and recently we had to make a decision not to participate in sports on Sunday. We aren't perfect, very far from it. There have been plenty of circumstances where we have done all of the things mentioned above on Sunday, but we try our best. Recently, I was told by a very wise lady not to get overly involved in youth sports, because eventually each one of those sports will require my child to play or practice on Sunday and then they will be forced to either give them up or live contrary to their beliefs. In the fall Nash wanted to play Lacrosse with his friends but the games and practice were on Sunday, so we told him he couldn't. It was a little hard to swallow because according to Nash all of the cool kids play Lacrosse. This winter we put the boys in wrestling only to find out that all of the meets were on Sunday during church. It would be impossible for us to attend. Don't think that we haven't been tempted to miss just once or twice. I certainly have and continue to be each Sunday. I really am dying to see the boys wrestle in those adorable little singlets. The coach said we could still participate in practices each week and honestly, we didn't really mention the meets to the boys. One Wednesday night all the youth wrestlers were invited to attend a high school wrestling meet where they would wrestle exhibition matches between the high school weight classes. It was exciting to be at a real meet and the boys were totally enthralled. But, because they had never been able to participate in the Sunday meets they were not allowed to participate in the exhibition matches either. I could tell it bothered Nash, who loves to wrestle. He didn't say too much until I tucked him in that night. He asked me why he didn't get to wrestle. I told him it was because we aren't able to go to the Sunday matches. It was only fair that the boys who had been working hard in practice and at the meets would be the only ones allowed to participate. He started to cry. I tried to tell him that he was choosing the right. He didn't understand. He explained to me that he thought choosing the right would make him feel good inside and he didn't feel good at all. He went on a tiny tirade about not feeling good when he has to miss his friends birthday parties when they are on Sunday, and how he couldn't play Lacrosse or wrestle. In that moment I realized that I might need to be a little more realistic with my kids about making difficult decisions. Sometimes doing what you think is morally right doesn't make you feel good. Sometimes it makes you feel excluded and different. Sometimes there are consequences that are anything but pleasant. We have to have faith that we are, or will be blessed for the hard choices we have to make. The blessing may not be immediate or even recognizable, but I know those blessings will come and that we will be strengthened when we try to live our convictions.
