A new start
December 2, 2009 (Wednesday)
I’m not the world’s biggest football fan, but I get more interested in the games this time of year, when the best teams are emerging and the execution of plays is more precise. There have been several great games this week. Monday night’s matchup between the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints was a very good game, if you didn’t mind seeing the Saints “whup up on” the Patriots. New Orleans has now won eleven games and lost none. As the Germon soldier on “Laugh In” used to say as he lowered his binoculars, “Very in-ter-rest-ing.”
The Patriots went back home soundly defeated, and knowing it very well. They are accustomed to winning, so the loss is painful for them. Their experience illustrates life for us. We all know what it’s like to feel defeated, dejected, rejected, dismayed, disappointed, and disillusioned. But we can learn from the teams. You can be sure the Patriots will try harder in their next game. The same should be true of all of us. Depressed feelings and defeated actions must not keep us from continuing to move forward. We need to be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth to what lies before us, let us press toward the mark..” (paraphrased).
Popular songs can teach us to keep moving upward and onward. The song, “High Hopes,” made popular by Frank Sinatra, tells stories of impossible goals that are achieved because a critter won’t give up. An ant moves a rubber tree plant and a ram knocks down a big dam. Do you have “high hopes” today? Think about these lyrics from Dorothy Fields: “Nothing’s impossible I have found, for when my chin is on the ground, I pick myself up, dust myself off, start all over again.”
We need to dream big dreams. I recall hearing Dr. J. Howard Williams tell of visiting the mountains of New Mexico with another Christian leader (T. L. Holcomb?) as they looked over a wilderness area and saw in their minds a beautiful 2200-acre mountain retreat named “Glorieta.” In 1952 the site became a conference center where thousands of people would visit and be blessed with a new vision of the Lord and a new commitment to him. The dream seemed unreal, but it became reality, because someone would not give up, but persevered.
What’s getting you down today? Your defeat can become a new beginning. It’s up to you. And don’t forget to ask the Lord to help you and guide you.