Due to my loving dad’s job, we moved from home and city several times. One of those was from Torreón to Chihuahua, both cities in northern Mexico. At the time I was fourteen years old.
My parents made many changes in the few months before my father reported to work, and that included figuring out which school I was going to continue for my last year of middle school. By the time the decision to move was made, the school enrollment dates had already passed. This situation complicated my enrollment for the following school year.
After several months, they told me which school I was going to go to. Because of the situation, it wasn’t about which school I would have liked to go to (plus I didn’t know what was there, and it wasn’t entirely my decision).
The school that admitted me was the Isaac Newton Bilingual Middle School. I didn’t struggle much in class, but entering a bilingual school was something foreign to me. There were a lot of changes.
One of the many changes was when it came to choosing which sport I was going to take. For the same reason that I signed up late, the sports I preferred were already full. Since the only thing left available was basketball, I joined the team. The truth is, I didn’t know anything about basketball, except that I knew that my dad liked to watch some games on television.
Not knowing anything didn’t intimidate me, because I thought:
-Even if I don’t know anything, they’ll teach me there, because that’s what the class is for.
But what happened was totally different…
I didn’t know that the school team was advanced, and they constantly went out to competitions. What I meant was that the coach expected me to have an idea of what I was doing beyond training.
From what I remember, each week, the activities consisted of focusing on specific movements in small teams and then rotating the activities. I thought:
-The time will come when I can ask, I know that the coach will dedicate a day to teach me that.
Has it ever happened to you that you are concerned enough to ask something? How easy or difficult is it for you to ask the question?
Before I decided to ask my coach my questions, a competition came up.
I was so happy and proud of myself, because the coach told me that I was going to be in the team at the beginning of the game.
To my surprise, not even a minute after the game had started, the coach took me out of the game and put another teammate in.
And I thought:
-What did I do, or what did I not do?
And even then, I only thought about it…
In your life, have you had experiences of not knowing what you are supposed to do? How did that go for you?
In my case, it was part mistake, and part ignorance. Or perhaps, ignorance led me to make a mistake.
There is a moment in the gospel where different people ask John the Baptist what they should do. John answers them according to their occupation. His answers are not the same for everyone.
These people, besides having their questions and concerns, really asked, and for that reason, they were given answers.
And you, do you have questions that you would like to get answers to? Do you decide to ask, or do you keep the question within yourself?
In my basketball class, I did not get an answer, because I did not ask any questions.
What are the answers that you would like to have?
If you have not found the right answers, perhaps you have not asked the right questions. The quality of the answer depends on the quality of the question.
I remind you of the question, what are the answers that you would like to have?
If the Spirit leads you, ask Jesus the carpenter how you can ask better questions to get better answers.
Marisol
P.S. We can hear about how different people seek answers in the readings of the Third Sunday of Advent, year/cycle C.
