Weekly Thought – March 15, 2016
Fred and Mary Alice enjoyed sports. No one criticized the Cowboys when she was around – and you didn’t carry on casual conversation during the game! Fred’s friendship with All-America, All-Pro Bill Glass lasted over 50 years. He enjoyed talking with “Big Bill” about life principles he found in sports. Here are some of those ideas jotted down in the 1970s.
Not Just A Game
Sports are valuable for they not only teach us how to play, but also how to live. In sports we see the benefit of opposition. You can’t miss it when you watch Joe Green compete against Craig Morton. What if the league decided to ban opposition? What if Joe kept his hands down so Craig could pass better? What is Craig stood still so Joe could sack him easier? The crowd would kill them both! The game is thrilling and exciting because of opposition… the successful handling of opposition.
Life is like that – we succeed as we face and overcome opposition. We get stronger as we shoulder our burden – as we shove aside temptations and climb the hill of our adversity.
The hand is a wonderful thing. It carries its own opposition. It is the thumb. All the fingers press against it. This way we can lift, grip and twist. Without the opposition of the thumb we are crippled. I am told disability insurance pays more for the loss of a thumb than for a finger.
In life we learn to use our opposition. As we do, we get experience. Confidence comes with experience and then we learn to win. So be thankful for opposition.
A distinguished psychiatrist once told me it isn’t what we see in that’s important – it’s what the person sees. One of those the athlete sees is the will to win… the drive to be a pro. The doctor went on to say if we can know what the person sees we can forecast behavior. When we know what is going on inside the athlete we can see if there is the willingness to play hurt, the ability to concentrate on being the best at one thing. I like to call this “Pauline focus: ‘this one thing I do.’”
This week I played golf with an executive who told me: “We can test ability and personality, but we can’t test price he is willing to pay for success.”
This is where championship starts for all of us – the will to win… the will to win… to stay in the game even when losing and keep coming on. This isn’t true just on the football field but in the factory, the home, the office, the church, and the community. We can all be pros.
This week think about: 1) What is opposing me right now? 2) How can I distinguish healthy opposition from negative? 3) When did I identify my will to win?
Words of Wisdom: The hand is a wonderful thing; it carries its own opposition.”
Wisdom from the Word: “But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition. (1 Thessalonians 2:2 NET Bible)