Life on Tape Delay

I wrote this particular post as a guest blogger for Focus on the Family President, Jim Daly. It was posted on Mr. Daly’s blog here: http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2012/08/03/what-one-mom-has-learned-from-the-olympics
I was also given permission to post it on my personal blog.

I was very humbled and excited about this opportunity! I hope you enjoy it as well.

I’ve heard the grumbles. The tape-delayed Olympic venues splash onto our screens each evening hours after they actually unfold across the pond. Many Americans wish to view the events without previous knowledge of the results. Sometimes I feel I’m competing in the unofficial sport of “social media and news feed avoidance.” But this broadcasting quandary has made me ponder. If life were on tape delay would it affect my viewing pleasure?

I’m known within my personal Olympic village as a camera junkie. I snap nearly as many photos as a credential-wielding reporter. As a mother of three, I simply dread forgetting a priceless moment.

My little ones are growing up at record-breaking pace. Michael Phelps has nothing on them. Only “yesterday” I paused in watching the Beijing Olympics to bring my middle child into this world. How is she now approaching her fourth birthday? I’m simply not a champion, Olympic or otherwise, at noting all of life’s details as they occur live. And Bob Costas has yet to show up in my living room to offer his assistance.

Therefore, I frequently find myself reviewing life on tape delay. I reflect on the day’s events and save them to my mental and literal hard drives so that I can relive them hours later. It’s my version of instant replay. Honestly, I think I’m on to something. Viewing life events after they occur seems to add a filter. It’s called perspective.

In real time, obstacles such as fear of the unknown or a distracting physical element may obstruct one’s view. For example, that baby I birthed shortly after watching an Olympic water polo match was a beautiful, pink-faced little girl. Once I took in her sweet features and smelled her newborn skin, I replayed the months of pregnancy with a perspective filter that suddenly rendered gratitude more powerful than pain or discomfort. When I recall my son riding his bike sans training wheels, I feel his thrill instead of the fear that he’ll surely bite the dust. The replaying of family gatherings and Christmases past glow warm and fuzzy instead of swarming with relational stress and busy must-dos. Yes, sometimes this tape delay thing comes in handy because it arrives with perspective in tow.

I’ve yet to find myself on the medal podium for success in permanent proper perspective, but I have occasionally increased my viewing pleasure. It’s a delicate balancing act, but I’m striving to add perspective to my “live” events.

I hope I can stick the landing.