Checking My Pride

Aaron C., Idaho, USA

young men playing hockey

Illustration by Roger Motzkus

As a junior in high school, I played on my school’s varsity ice hockey team. Just weeks into the season, I broke my arm badly during a game against our rival school and was taken to the hospital. Reconstructive surgery was performed on my arm that night, and upon returning to the doctor’s office the next week I was told that I would miss the remaining five months of the season. I was devastated.

In the weeks following the injury, I puttered around using just one arm, trying to function as best I could. I couldn’t bathe myself. Feeding myself was very difficult. I couldn’t play the guitar. And I couldn’t write with my preferred hand. The whole time I thought, “Why me?”

Then about three weeks after the injury, my mom drove me back to the ice rink to get the gear I had left there on the night of my injury. My coach had the gear in his office upstairs, and while we were talking, he said something I’ll never forget: “Aaron, we’ll miss you this year; we sure could use you on the ice. But there’s Someone upstairs who’s watching out for you. This year, there’s something more important for you than hockey.” It had never occurred to me that God had something else planned for me, but He did.

I learned many things that year. I learned to be humble and to accept the help of others, especially Christ and His Atonement. I widened my horizons by becoming more involved in the school choir and learning to play lacrosse. I learned how to forgive people. But the most important thing I learned is that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows what is best for me.