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THE TENNIS GAME
I entered a tennis tournament,
Doubles, the game of the day,
I wrote down the name of my partner,
“Jesus,” I was proud to say.
I gathered my racquet with conviction,
And took to the court to play,
But even though the game was doubles,
They only saw two feet upon the clay.
I tried to explain the situation,
To the judges who huddled off court,
And they reluctantly allowed it,
Saying "Jesus" couldn’t harm the sport.
So I played my best, my hardest,
I gave it all that I had,
But even though my partner was Jesus,
The scoring was really quite bad.
The tournament had concluded,
With my points at the bottom of the list,
I rubbed my knee and held my back,
Saying the problem was really in my wrist.
One of the judges pulled me aside,
And offered to critique my game,
"What could be the harm?" I thought,
Until he said that I was to blame.
He said,
“It appears your partner played flawlessly,
But you on the other hand,
Defended shots that were not your own,
You constantly tried to grand-stand.
You said that you had a partner,
Whom I’m sure would have done His part,
Had you only stood back once in awhile,
And let Him practice His art.
You charged the net and ran the back line,
You played centre, left and right,
Next time, if you want to do better,
Let your partner, Jesus, use His might.”
With grace I took the sage advice,
And asked Jesus to try again,
We entered a tournament, doubles,
And our efforts this time, not in vain.
The judges declared me the winner,
And gave me a trophy for the game,
I held it high above my head,
But engraved on it ... was only my name.
I smiled and posed for the cameras,
I was now at the top of my sport,
Though I forgot to tell the photographer,
That I was not alone on the court.
I felt quite bad about the errors,
It was really a deception and a cheat,
For I had left Jesus out of the victory,
And blamed Him for the defeat.
Sheila Willar - July 16, 2007
Psalm 96:8 (KJV)
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name:
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