The Spiritual Lessons of a Basketball Comeback...




Yes, I'm going to use last night's Dallas Mavericks win at Oklahoma City as the basis for a discussion about spiritual life lessons...hopefully, you won't tune out because you're not a sports fan, because life lessons are always universal, no matter the source of material!




In last night's playoff game between Oklahoma City (OKC) and Dallas, OKC led for the entire game...and for the most part, had a pretty significant lead. With about 5 minutes left in the game, their lead was at 15...not insurmountable, but it was highly unlikely that Dallas would be able to mount a comeback substantial enough to win.




Dallas took the lead for the first time...in overtime...which got me to thinking...




Sometimes, when the game seems over, it is not over. As the final minutes of regulation ticked away, and Dallas had tied the score, the fans in OKC were on their feet, rooting their hometown boys on toward victory...just a few minutes later, but before the game was over, the TV commentators observed that OKC fans were streaming out of the arena. Dejected, I understand...after losing the lead at the very end, and then headed toward a loss in overtime, many fans gave up and left early. There have been times in my life when I wanted to leave early, because the "game" wasn't going how I wanted it to go, and loss seemed inevitable. I even started to leave the Mavericks game early last night...but now, having experienced the incredible enjoyment of a miraculous comeback, I'm reminded that we should never leave the "game" before it's over. We simply don't know how our stories will end, regardless of what the story might be at any point in our lives.




Second, I was reminded that even the most incredible outcomes are achieved by "doing the next right thing." The Mavericks, down by 15, could only play one play at a time...each trip up and down the court...offensively, defensively...required a "next right thing." Get the stop on the defensive end...then, move to the next thing and score on the other end...back and forth...one step at a time. The 15 points could not be overcome by a single, momentous accomplishment...but with tedious determination...one possession at a time, the goal was achievable.




Life is like a series of possessions on the basketball court...we can only play one play at a time...but every play adds to the next, and the cumulative effect of doing the next right thing can mean great results...sometimes miraculous results!




And last...there is the very important matter of belief. Who would have believed the Mavericks could pull off that comeback? Very few of us, I'd wager...but the Mavericks believed they could do it, and as the old saying goes, "Whether you believe you can do it, or don't believe...you're right." It makes a difference whether we believe or not, because it gets harder to "do the next right thing" if you don't believe it matters!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contemplative Politics

Image
I began writing this blog 2 1/2 years ago...what can only be described as several lifetimes ago, from the perspective of the events that have transpired in my life since May of 2010.   I won't take the time to recount those events, but suffice to say, I never imagined that I would use this space to contemplate politics, or the place that our political perspectives may take on the path of our individual spiritual journeys... To rightly share my story, I must go back in time to January of 2008, when I, like many Americans, first heard then-candidate Senator Barack Obama speak after his groundbreaking win in the Iowa caucus.  I remember the experience quite vividly, because I was mesmorized by the ideal he seemed to represent.  As I sat in a theater this afternoon watching the Dinesh D'Souza political documentary "2016", I was struck by the fact that much of our political consciousness is defined by what each of us projects upon the candidate of our choice. ...
Read more

Crawl into a box, and wrap yourself up as a gift to others...

Image
What if we could wrap a box of love, and put it under the Christmas tree? What would it look like? Would it rattle if you shook it? Would it be heavy or light? I am woefully behind on my Christmas preparations this year...there's no Christmas tree in my front room...no Christmas candles around the house....no presents wrapped, or even waiting to be wrapped! What is wrong with me?? When I was a kid, my Dad sometimes traveled for work, and periodically, my Mom would let me sleep with her while he was away...on those nights, she would tell me stories from her childhood...and one that comes to mind is Christmas. When my Mom was a young girl in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Christmas festivities didn't really begin at all until the week between December 18 and 25. During this week, the general mercantile store would add a toy department, and for just that one week...the kids would ooh and ahh over all the toys in the display window. Christmas trees went up on Christmas Eve, and of...
Read more

A question to ponder...

Image
Last night I was reading The Richest Man in Babylon , by George Clason. If you've never heard of the book, it's a classic...an allegory on the subject of how to wisely handle your finances. Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I stumble upon a statement or question that is totally unexpected in its impact, and last night was such a time. In this chapter, the story was of a young man who had squandered the money his father entrusted to him to begin his life as a man. As a consequence of his bad choices and seemingly insurmountable debt, the young man ultimately ends up being sold into slavery... While a slave, the young man has a conversation with the wife of his owner, and relays his tale of woe...how his life has been marred by "ill fortune." In response to his tale, the wife asks this question: "Have you the soul of a slave or the soul of a free man?" If you happen to be a Christian, or even if you're simply familiar with the writings of the Apostle ...
Read more