THE LITTLE BALL THAT COULD (a story shared at the YRV Staff Retreat, 10/23/09)

Once upon a time there was a little ball.  She was like most balls, rounded like a circle, and she liked being a ball.  She rolled like other balls, especially if the ground slanted, and she liked to look up at the big bright ball in the sky that seemed to light everything up.  But she felt there was something missing, something she was supposed to do, something she was supposed to be.

So the little ball went looking for herself.

First she came to a big exercise ball.  “Wow, you are big, and colorful, and comfortable for people to lay across.  You do such good work helping people exercise their core.  I think I want to be an exercise ball just like you.”

But the big exercise ball said to the little ball, “Thank you for liking what I do.  It is important.  But I’m afraid you can’t do this.  You’re too small, and you’re hard and not at all flexible, so if anyone tried to lay across you they would be uncomfortable, and couldn’t get off the ground.  No, you can’t be an exercise ball.”

“Well”, thought the little ball, “maybe I am something else”.  So she rolled on and came to a basketball.  “Wow”, said the little ball, “you certainly look like you work hard, flying all over the court, bouncing this way and that.  The eyes of everyone are always on you and what you’re doing, and you seem to do well in the spotlight.  You take a real beating, hitting the floor and the backboard and the rim hard, but you are strong and can take the beating.  I think I want to be a basketball.”

But the basketball said to the little ball, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would work at all.  You’re so small the players would have trouble keeping up with you, and the court or the backboard might crack if you hit them hard over and over.  I’m glad you like what I do, but I don’t think it would work for you.”

So the little ball rolled on, and she came to another small ball---a handball.  “Maybe this is who I am and what I am supposed to do,” she thought.  “You bounce like I do, and you’re smaller than the other balls, and you look like you’re having so much fun going all kinds of different angles, high and low, all around the court.  I think I could be a handball, maybe that’s what I’m all about.”

But the handball said to the little ball, “Whew, let me tell you it is a lot of work changing directions and going so fast all the time.  But I really don’t think it’s right for you.  I’m afraid you might really hurt the hands of the players, not to mention their backs or their heads if they hit one another by accident.  You might even begin to break the wall when they hit you hard against it.  No, I don’t think you’re a very good handball.”

Not a very good handball, not a very good basketball, not a very good exercise ball.  What in the world was she good at, where in the world could she be of any use at all?  So the little ball, if she had a head, hung her head low, and she rolled on.  She came to an odd looking ball, oblong on the ends and round in the middle.  “A football!”, she thought.  “That’s who I am, that’s what I was made to be!”  And so she went over to the football.  “I don’t seem to be like the other balls, and that makes me think I could be a football,” she said.  “I don’t really fit in anywhere else, so maybe this is where I belong.  I like how sturdy you are, how strong, like me.  And no one worries about you breaking anything.”

The football grunted, and looked at the little ball.  “You do have some guts, little ball, and I like that, you can probably take a beating, but you just don’t have what it takes for the football game.  I can give the game some crazy bounces that the fans like, and I’m big enough that the players can see what’s happening with me.  If you were out here, the quarterback could put you in his pocket and no one would know who had the ball.  No, you’re not a football---sorry.”

Not even a football---what was little ball to do?  So she rolled along, so sad, when suddenly a boy came up with a golf club.  “Why, you look exactly like the very kind of ball I need for my game,” he said.  The little ball looked around---could he be talking to her?  The boy continued.  “I tried to hit an exercise ball with my club, but it was too fragile and it popped.  Then I tried to hit a basketball, and it wouldn’t go into the hole.  I hit a handball, and there was no control at all where the ball went.  I even tried to hit a football, but it bounced crazy all over the course, never where I wanted it to go.  Maybe you are the perfect ball for my game.”

And the little ball was so happy, because she knew she had at last found who she was and what she could do better than anyone else, better than any other ball, in all the world.  She was a golf ball, and she was going to be the best golf ball ever.

Now, what is our lesson?  There are all kinds of different balls in the world, and every ball has its purpose, where it best works in the big scheme of things.  Soccer balls don’t work on the ice rink, but they sure work well on the soccer pitch.  And so it is with all of us.  We are all kinds of different people, and every one of us does our own things very well.  For an organization like our Y to work well, we need a lot of different kinds of people, a lot of unique mixes, to come together, to appreciate our differences and our special strengths and skills, to say “I’m glad Clyde coaches swim team so well and doesn’t have to teach ballet, I’m glad Teresa handles all the HR work so well and doesn’t have to coach flag football, I’m glad Marty does personal training so well and doesn’t have to fix the computers, I’m glad Ben is so great with our children and doesn’t have to lead the music class.  You see, for all the games to go well, for everything to work, each of us, with our own specialness, is needed, to be who we are, to the best of our ability.   Scripture teaches us, God made us all, He made us all different and unique, and He looked at what He made, and He said---it’s good!  So keep the ball rolling!

(shared by Karen Wilbourne, Youth & Family Director, Kirk Family YMCA)

(The names have been changed to ensure confidentiality.)

I had a message to return a call to Janie Barrow.  I called her back, and we ended up talking for over thirty minutes. 

She had called to ask about our gymnastics class for her granddaughter, Sara, who is 13.  Janie had adopted Sara when she was barely a year old.  Sara was recently diagnosed with a mood disorder, and had spent a month in a local youth institution.  Now back home with her grandmother, Sara wanted more than anything in the world to make the JV cheerleading squad at her high school.

Janie checked into local gymnastics centers for tumbling training, but found she couldn’t afford the costs.  Then she heard about the Kirk Family YMCA gymnastics program, leading to her call to me.  I hooked her up with Ashley, one of our great Y instructors, and Sara is now happily a part of our program!

But Janie’s story doesn’t stop there.  She was so impressed with the YMCA’s help that she became a member.  Janie is 50 and recovering from chemo treatments, and her husband is 49 and has a heart condition.  They have raised three children, and now have taken on care for Sara and a two-year-old grandson.

I asked Janie what the Y means to her.  She first talked about how much it meant to Sara, and how the time the two-year-old spends in the YMCA child watch center gives him the only interaction he has with other children (and how he’s blossoming because of that experience). 

But when she then shared her own Y experience, she beamed!  She now comes to the Y 3-4 times each week, and works out under the guidance of Andrew---and she said she loves him!  He has talked her into taking a “Cardio Jive” class, which she thinks is great, and she’s now added “Body Pump” to her activities.  “The Y is the main stress reliever in my  stressful life”, she told me, and she said she can never thank the Y enough for the financial assistance she receives.

Janie and her husband are now on disability---hard working people (she was a mental health professional) now facing health and financial challenges.  It was not easy asking for help from the Y---without the needs of her grandchildren she never would have done so---but she deeply appreciates how professionally the YMCA has dealt with her family.

As I sat amid the paperwork on my desk, I became once again aware of the impact our organization really does have on thousands of lives in the Valley.  I was reminded how important we all are to each other—it turns out my daughter and Janie’s granddaughter had been in cheer competition together years ago---and the importance of the work that we do at the YMCA.  I am so proud to be part of this mission!