Skip to main content

The Highlight Reel

Most athletes, or even us non-athletes who've played some sports, can sit around with our buddies and share stories of the biggest hits we've had or the best plays we've ever made.  We remember the good ole days whether it was Dixie Youth, Rec League, high school, or even backyard pickup games where we made some of our most amazing plays ever.  And for high school athletes looking to earn college scholarships, coaches will often go through hours of film to pull out the plays that showcase their player's talent, skill, and strength at its best.  Sportscenter has become famous for its daily top 10 plays.  We all like to see the highlights.  

But the highlight reels that we often see leave something out.  They leave out our failures.  They leave out our grind that it took to develop the skills to make those big plays.  You don't just get up off the couch one day and decide you'll go play a sport or compete in an event at a high level.  It's not as easy as they make it look on TV.  It takes countless hours of effort, hurt, and work to become great at anything.  

The past couple weeks, social media has been flooded with pictures of graduates, awards, and accomplishments from many proud friends and family.  But what those pictures didn't show is the hours of studying, homework, reading, and likely failing at some point during the years.  Yes, we saw the highlights and the achievements.  And we relish in those accomplishments as well, but don't leave out the struggle.  That's what makes us who we are.  Pope Paul VI shared this, "All life demands struggle.  Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life.  The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today."

I don't know what you consider your highlights today.  You may be like me and your athletic highlights are now only memories - fond memories, but memories nonetheless.  And as we grow, our highlights change.  Your highlights now may be your career, your salary, your house, your kids, your car, or something else entirely.  But only you know the struggle that it took to make it, the struggle it took to earn those things, the struggle it takes to keep it all together and keep going.  Highlight reels are nice, but the real triumph is in the daily struggle - the work, effort, and time that goes into those 10 seconds of excellence whether it's making the game winning play, walking across the stage, or finally getting that promotion.  

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." - Hebrews 12:11

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

Worship > Fellowship

I believe that worship, true worship of God, is more important than fellowship with other believers.  Now I'm not saying that fellowship and relationships aren't important.  But I am saying that if I'm not worshiping God, if I'm not right with him, then my other relationships can't be right.  My fellowship and worship with him is more important than my relationship with my wife, my son, family, friends, my church, and my community.  Think about it.  How can I love my wife like Christ loved the church if I don't love Christ?  I wouldn't know how to love without knowing him.  Why should she submit to me if I'm not worth submitting to?  And yes I do believes wives should submit, but I also believe that won't be an issue as long as she's submitting to a godly husband.  (Ephesians 5:22-25) Our love for others must flow from our love and worship of God.  1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says,...

The Power of Our Tongue

"How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.  The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." - James 3:6 When we think of fire, we may think of a small campfire to roast marshmallows, a wood stove fire that is contained, or possibly a raging inferno that is destroying a building or forest.  James here is comparing our tongue to a fire.  The sinful words that come out of our mouths have the power to destroy everything they touch, and like a fire can do so rapidly or slowly, but with dramatic effect either way.  We should also be mindful of our speech because even if it's not directly what we say, the permeating "smoke" from our speech can destroy the things around us as well.  Often times even when we are filled with good and honorable actions, our tongue can stain, or contaminate, our body throug...