In keeping with the season of the 2018 Winter Olympics I’ve had a love hate relationship with the sport of Curling. Hate is really too strong of a word to use so maybe just a strong lack of excitement for it. Love it because it intrigues me why anyone would be interested in playing such a sport. Still wondering why it is considered a sport especially in the Olympics!
The first time I watched the sport of Curling it seemed almost comical. I thought, “is this really a sport?”. How do you train for it? Help mom sweep the floors. Practice pushing a stone across some ice, bending, sqauting, or long distance running?
Upon a quick search of the history of this sport I find that it has Scottish origins and is reportedly one of the world’s oldest team sports dating back to the early 16th century. In its earliest record the sport was played on frozen ponds or lochs in the winter. The Curling stones are made of special granite that is found in Scottland and Wales.
The sweeping helps clear the path for the stone to travel towards the target area called the house. Sweeping provides some warmth which helps keep the stone from veering right or left keeping it on a smooth straight path. I observe this as a very strategic sport which requires much patience and calculation.
Now knowing some background on Curling I can see how it could have been created; out of boredom. I still think that it is boring to watch, sorry, can’t quite get that loving feeling for it! I could understand how it could be fun and more challenging played outside on a pond or lake. I could see myself all bundled up from head to toe, trying to keep my glasses defrosted, sweeping the snow and ice so that some lonely stone can travel home to its destination. Then maybe it would be fun, invigorating and exciting!
Curling reminds me of a book a friend of mine mentioned to me a long time ago titled Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherley. I never read it but she explained that it was about the people around you that cheer you on and give you encouragement throughout your life. I can picture myself as the Curling stone put in motion by God at the beginning of my life. The sweepers are the Holy Spirit and the Angels that want to sweep away the bumps and blemishes of life’s road and make it warm so my path stays straight, showing me the way home, the target area. I can picture those Balcony People cheering me on even when the path isn’t so smooth and straight. Cheering and shouting, “you can make it through the rough road!”. Home isn’t far away.
Something to think about.
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1
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