Timing Is Everything

The other day while coaching gymnastics, God used one of the girls to teach me a valuable lesson in timing. Practice had just begun and I was coaching the bar rotation. The competitive season just ended this past month, so the girls who are moving up to the next level are working on all the new skills for next year; it is a very welcomed change after 12 months of repetition after repetition.

One of my 9 year old gymnasts, who just completed level 4, was up next on bars. She had only recently mastered, but not consistently, one of the most difficult skills needed for level 5-- the infamous Glide Kip! At this point she probably makes the skill about 50% of the time. As she jumped to grab the bar, I could tell mid glide that her timing was off and that she was kipping to early. She barely managed to muscle it, straining as she pushed her way up onto the bar. I told her that she went too early and that was why it was so hard. She jumped of the bar to give it another go, only this time she was right on and completed the skill almost effortlessly. She turned to me and said, “It’s so much easier when you have the correct timing!”

Here is a video clip of a young gymnast struggling to make her Glide Kip.

In that moment I knew that God was using her to communicate a truth that I constantly need to be reminded of-- timing and waiting. My coach used to tell me, “Shannon, you don’t need to work harder, you need to work smarter”. There have been many times in my life that I have striven, putting so much effort into something, or trying to force something to happen, but completely flopped in the end, not because I didn’t try hard enough, but because the timing wasn’t right. Why is it that I can’t trust the One who knows the beginning from the end and every emotion in between? His timing is everything.