“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.” (Psalm 51:12-13)

Before I started the career path I am on now, all my interests revolved around water and pools. My first job was lifeguarding at the YMCA, which eventually led to being a swim instructor and finally a swim coach. And to this day, I still consider coaching swim team to be the most satisfying job I have ever held. The ages of the swimmers ranged from six years old to eighteen. It seems obvious to me now, but this is where I first realized how different individual kids can be and how each age group required completely different guidance. What worked for one swimmer was not necessarily going to work for all, and we all know about the 15- to 18-year-old range already. But honestly the rewards were infinite. Helping the older swimmers beat their best times and watching everyone cheer when a 6-year-old crosses the pool for the first time was priceless. For me, coaching was a two-way street. Whatever I was able to provide the kids, I tended to get just as much (or more) back from them. The joy I received from their successes was the very thing that I then used to pour back into them. Likewise, in today’s psalm David is asking the Lord to fill his cup and “restore his joy” allowing him to have the “willing spirit” to do what he was called to do. Which was to use the joy of salvation, through the power of the spirit, to lead others to success. Getting them to turn from sin and put their focus back on God. Today we too are called to do the same. We are to rely on God’s strength and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to be restored and to bring those who have lost their way back to Jesus. Kind of like a Christian coach😉.