Have you ever skated on one roller blade?
Growing up my sister Sierra and I had one pair of roller blades. I don't even remember if they started out as hers or mine. Sierra, my sister, was four years younger than me. She was my little shadow, and I went nowhere without her attached to my side. Roller blading was no different. She wasn't going to let me skate if she couldn't skate at the same time. So this is where our ultimate skating experience began. She would always get the right skate, and I would have to wear the left. I think the skate was tight on my foot and loose on hers. Basically, we were working with state of the art roller blading equipment here. If you didn't know, everyone has a more dominate leg. Sierra and I both really liked wearing the right skate. It was easier to keep our balance when we skated on our dominate leg. We had a 20x20 concrete pad in the backyard of our house. If you can imagine couples Olympic skating with one roller blade, that was pretty much what we looked like. We had routines! We would skate for hours! My left leg became stronger the more I skated on it. Soon, the only way we knew how to skate was with one roller blade using the barefoot to push ourselves around. We were faster than Fred Flintstone with the skate-less foot. Sierra and I had so much fun. We would laugh and play for hours on that concrete pad. I was probably 10 years old at the time, making her around 6 years old. Often times I tell people about our skating adventures. I get the same response each time, "That's so sad...why didn't someone buy y'all another pair of skates?" My sister and I both just laugh and remember all the fun we had. You see, something is only sad if you look at it that way. That one skate taught us so much more than having our own pair of skates would have. It taught us to share, to work together, to have fun with what we had, to laugh when we got the skates tangled up with one another, and most importantly it taught us that you don't need both legs to skate. So many times we get caught up in this life only looking at the foot without the skate. We spend so much time looking at the barefoot wishing we had a skate for it, that we miss all the capabilities of the foot with the skate. Even though you may be using your left leg and your balance is off, the more you practice looking at all the awesomeness the left leg has to offer, the better life gets. Sierra and I really didn't know any different, and we didn't care. Sure we could have asked for another pair of skates if we really wanted them, but to us we were getting by just fine with that one pair to share. I try to imagine what it would be like if I gave my kids one pair of roller blades to share. Would they even attempt only wearing one? Most likely not! We look at roller blades a lot like we look at life. We think we have to have the whole set, all the things that make the perfect pair, and no one wants to wear the left skate. In all reality, skating on the left leg with just one skate that's a little too tight, can get you just as far as both skates will. You are just traveling in a different way. God never promises that we will always have both skates. At times, we may not even have the one left skate in our possession. The one left skate may feel so far away. God does promise to always make a way though! If we will give him our hearts, He will provide the skates. We may have to crawl for awhile just to reach the one left skate. Standing up will be hard at first. Learning to balance is difficult too. But I can promise, if you will just take your eyes off the barefoot and focus all your attention on the left skate, you will be laughing and skating away in no time. There will even be times in life when you have both skates and you feel unstoppable. This is right when your little sister shows up and wants your right skate! HAHA (I love you Sierra) In these times, no matter what they are, give someone your right skate! You don't really need it anyways. It's so much fun skating with just one skate, I promise. Think of all the routines, crashes, and laughs you could have if you started skating through life Loving on Borrowed Time!
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