This coming weekend's NBA All-Star Game got me thinking about a blogpost a wrote a few years ago around this same time.
(Written Jan 2011)
A lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm a pretty big basketball fan. In fact, when I was younger (in particular, 5th-10th grade), basketball was pretty much all I thought about. God, Eating, Sleeping, School, Girls, Basketball. (Not necessarily in that order.) Now-a-days, you can replace basketball with music. I had loads of NBA jerseys, posters all over my room, rosters made up of my favorite players (there were many), and an uncanny ability for memorizing players' heights, weights, and jersey numbers. (I have a weird memory for things like that.)
In addition to all of that, I also played basketball about as often as I could get a chance. (If you don't believe me, ask my family members.) If it was a nice day outside, you could count that most of the time, I would be outside - shooting around until it got dark.
Throughout the years, I've learned a lot of lessons from basketball that have helped me in my life. Like, just because someone blocks your shot doesn't mean you should quit. Or just because someone's bigger than you doesn’t mean that they're better than you (I was exceptionally small for most of those years in my basketball“prime' - I was only 5 ft tall when I turned 15). Lately though, I've been thinking about this basketball analogy for life:
In life, you're typically going to have more loses than wins. At the end of every season, there is only one “Champion” crowned, and all of the rest are left in 2nd place, and beyond. Every year, a new “Number 1” comes along, and even if it's a repeat, dynasties WILL eventually end. (Ask the Chicago Bulls, or LA Lakers.) What matters is not how many shots you make, but the amount, and the quality, of shots you take. If you keep counting, “1 out of 1, 1 out of 2, 1 out of 3”, typically, you're going to wind up pretty disappointed - because you have so many missed shots. Rather than counting all of your misses; your failures; your blocked shots, what matters is acknowledging those misses…and then moving on. Celebrate (humbly) your makes, acknowledge (be aware of) your misses, and recognize that everyone misses the basket at some point or another, and that that's just part of how it goes.
For me, I think about it this way: Lord knows I've missed my share of free throws, but I've also made some pretty sweet shots, as well!
You Belong Here,
Ben J
Scriptures:“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind,consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing ofyour faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its fulleffect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”- James 1:2-4
“Iwill give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I willremove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decreesand be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gaveto your forefathers. You will be my people and I will be your God.”-Ezekiel 36:26-28
(Written Jan 2011)
A lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm a pretty big basketball fan. In fact, when I was younger (in particular, 5th-10th grade), basketball was pretty much all I thought about. God, Eating, Sleeping, School, Girls, Basketball. (Not necessarily in that order.) Now-a-days, you can replace basketball with music. I had loads of NBA jerseys, posters all over my room, rosters made up of my favorite players (there were many), and an uncanny ability for memorizing players' heights, weights, and jersey numbers. (I have a weird memory for things like that.)
In addition to all of that, I also played basketball about as often as I could get a chance. (If you don't believe me, ask my family members.) If it was a nice day outside, you could count that most of the time, I would be outside - shooting around until it got dark.
Throughout the years, I've learned a lot of lessons from basketball that have helped me in my life. Like, just because someone blocks your shot doesn't mean you should quit. Or just because someone's bigger than you doesn’t mean that they're better than you (I was exceptionally small for most of those years in my basketball“prime' - I was only 5 ft tall when I turned 15). Lately though, I've been thinking about this basketball analogy for life:
In life, you're typically going to have more loses than wins. At the end of every season, there is only one “Champion” crowned, and all of the rest are left in 2nd place, and beyond. Every year, a new “Number 1” comes along, and even if it's a repeat, dynasties WILL eventually end. (Ask the Chicago Bulls, or LA Lakers.) What matters is not how many shots you make, but the amount, and the quality, of shots you take. If you keep counting, “1 out of 1, 1 out of 2, 1 out of 3”, typically, you're going to wind up pretty disappointed - because you have so many missed shots. Rather than counting all of your misses; your failures; your blocked shots, what matters is acknowledging those misses…and then moving on. Celebrate (humbly) your makes, acknowledge (be aware of) your misses, and recognize that everyone misses the basket at some point or another, and that that's just part of how it goes.
For me, I think about it this way: Lord knows I've missed my share of free throws, but I've also made some pretty sweet shots, as well!
You Belong Here,
Ben J
Scriptures:“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind,consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing ofyour faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its fulleffect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”- James 1:2-4
“Iwill give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I willremove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decreesand be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gaveto your forefathers. You will be my people and I will be your God.”-Ezekiel 36:26-28