Twig Like Arms

Volleyball season my senior year was met with much anticipation. Most of us were returning starters with goals of progressing extensively through post-season play. My teammate and fellow setter and I were named co-captains. We were excited to pick up where we left off in our offense with 4 hitters and 2 setters. It was a bit old-school for the emerging faster-paced changes the sport was embracing, but we were a well-oiled machine in our rotations. 
The first day included many familiar drills and fun. Coach Firth taught us that discipline and hard work resulted in fun and success. Practice was always just that! However, when we broke into our offense work portion of practice he informed us of some changes. He worked to teach us an offense where only one setter was on the court at a time. My mind raced. My teammate and I, both setters, had just been named co-captains and now he was putting one of us out of a job. Undoubtedly my face turned red with embarrassment mixed with anger as Coach told the team my co-captain would be our setter and I was moving to outside hitter.
Coach told me to stay late after practice and he would help me learn my new position. I felt defeated. 5’8” was not tall “enough” to be a hitter. My arms were most similar to a storybook snowman’s: weak insignificant sticks. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend much time in the weight room due to the smells that emerged from that dingey corner of the school…Therefore, my legs nearly equaled the girth of my arms. My vertical jump was unfathomably insignificant. There was NO WAY I could succeed at hitting.
I was angry at my coach for ruining my senior volleyball season and stewed over it for the rest of practice. Afterward, he reminded me to stay late and take a few extra reps at hitting. He invited the rest of the hitters as well and worked with me to get the footwork and approach down. Before too long, my hits would clear the net, but never go down with the force of my teammates’. I watched our hitters pound the ball hard and forcefully across the net. I knew they were good. I had played alongside them as their setter the previous year.  
Coach watched me watch them. My teammate, our setter, was good too. He must have seen the defeat in my eyes as he approached me on the sidelines where I had taken myself out of turn. I told him I didn’t think there was any way I could ever hit the ball like them.  
He took one look at me and laughed as he rebutted “Of course you can’t!!! You are too short, you can’t jump, and (lifting my arms up) you have no muscles….”
My throat ached and I fought off tears as I quickly looked away using all my emotional and physical strength to avoid crying right there on the sidelines. Coach positioned himself right in front of me and told me he never expected me to hit like them. He told me I would be equally successful and important to my team when I simply learned to place the ball where the other team’s defense had holes.  
“I know how to do that already!” I blurted realizing that was the best part of my game as a setter- basically sending the ball over the net to a hole in the defensive coverage.
The next day at practice, with renewed confidence I took my new place in our offense’s rotation with confidence. Coach needed me to be my best self as a hitter with my strengths, not imitate the strengths of others.  
The concept was no different than coming to know myself as God sees me. Our Creator made each of us different- sizes, desires, talents, strengths and weaknesses. My opportunity on earth is to magnify my gifts and triumph over my weakness while I work to become an authentic version of a child of God. My Father in Heaven knows me perfectly and sees my potential for success. He knows as I work with others and the greatest teammate, my Savior: Brother, Friend, Advocate, that I can overcome all that is hard, wrong and unfair about our experience on earth. In making efforts to work together, I began to realize how my different strengths and weaknesses weave together to accomplish more than I ever could do on my own. In trying to do just that, I could eventually learn to appreciate my own differences- including twig-like arms…

-JC

Snickerdoodles

1 cup soft butter
½  cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter, oil  and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high for 1 minute or until fluffy. Hand stir in eggs and vanilla; don’t overmix. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix until fully incorporated. Add 2-3 Tablespoons more flour for high elevation. Scoop out approximately 24+ 2” balls of dough.  Gently roll into Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture. For a richer flavor and smoother texture, form cookie dough balls, flatten slightly and refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake. Place on greased or parchment paper on an aluminum cookie sheet.  
Bake at 375 degrees for 12+  min. Let set. Share!

-JC