We are Lakers!
Photo borrowed from my friend, Cathie Bueltel
This year has seen a return to Laker football something that has been missing for quite a few years – cheerleaders! These sweet girls and their awesome leaders are doing a fabulous job! I am so proud of them and all the hard work that they have clearly put in, and they should be proud too. Their presence really makes a difference in the atmosphere of a game. They have been a delightful addition to the football experience at Lakeview. Wow! Talk about a half-time performance!
But isn’t that true about most things in life? A ho-hum experience can turn into a great thing with the right kind of support and enthusiasm. I think back to all the students I have taught in 21 years and I have seen many sparks ignited simply because I or another teacher believed in a student. An average student with a passion can change the world. One of my favorite sayings is “It isn’t aptitude, but attitude, that determines your altitude.”
How much more could we all accomplish if we had our own little cheering section? In an earlier blog, I shared about how my personal cheerleaders really boosted my spirits when completing the triathlon. I recently heard a story about how a peanut butter sandwich boosted a friend who completed the Breast Cancer 3-day (all 60 miles of it). I know that Sawyer worked a little harder when the “cheerleading” posters arrived for his Mayo hospital room from Auntie Ellen’s class in North Dakota.
Apparently advertisers know this little secret too because there is a sweet commercial right now about a gal in a bike competition and her husband who does all this cheering along the way. He cheers, he makes signs out of boxes, and then he is waiting at the finish line with a pizza box with a love note written in it. We all KNOW a little positive encouragement works. But how often do we make time to do it?
An opportunity to encourage all kinds of people is coming up in 8 days. As a Reed’s Run committee, we are looking for lots of people to help us out. This request doesn’t require any special training nor does it have a long time commitment. We need pockets of people along the race route to cheer people on. Families, clubs, organizations, church groups, heck – knitting groups and book clubs are perfect. We simply need you to show up and cheer on the runners when they come running by.
Maybe running or walking a 5k isn’t for everybody. But all of us have the ability to spread some encouragement. I won’t be donning my old uniform nor digging out my pompoms, but I WILL be there close to the finish line cheering every single runner on!
If you know the history of Reed’s Run, this is one opportunity that we all have to be like Reed and encourage others. And what better place than his run. His motivation was because he was filled with spirit (the Holy Spirit). So, we can all confidently say, “We’ve got Spirit! Yes, we do!”