“Oh lord it’s hard to be humble.”

A famous song from the 1980s.

To be humble, what exactly does that mean?  The definition of being humble is to be modest – not arrogant or proud.

What a champion Ash Barty is!  After winning the Junior Wimbledon title in 2011 at the age of 15, on the weekend Ash reached her childhood dream to win the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship Title for 2021, 50 years after Yvonne Goolagong Cawley’s first Wimbledon crown in 1971 and then her second win in 1980. 

Ash Barty’s win also coincided with NAIDOC Week.  Ash stating that all the stars aligned for her over the two weeks of the tournament.  She joins only a few Australian Indigenous women who have become “household names” in sport. 

Barty a Queenslander from Ipswich has the Lord Mayor and the Ipswich City Council making plans for a tick-a-tape parade when Ash returns home later in the year.  The Ipswich Mayor spoke about Ash’s gracious and humble manner in which she conducts herself and that all Ipswich people are so proud of Ash.

We see in our schools in Queensland many students who have talents not just in the area of sport but in other areas too.  As educators we need to encourage these students to live out their dreams, using the talents that they have been given by God.  Ash Barty is a great role model for students, and I am pretty certain that many young children will be picking up a tennis racquet after Ash’s win on the weekend, wanting to be successful like her. 

I am reminded of the song “Oh lord it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way!” None of us are perfect, but Ash is on the court.

Let’s all congratulate Ash on her win and on who she is and how she shows such humility (not just when she wins but also when she loses).   What an inspiration she is to us all.

Lord God our heavenly father, may we too show humility in all we do.  Amen.

Eunice Stoll

DSLS.