Month: November 2019

WHY?

Andy Murray had been on the radio talking about himself this week and I learnt a few things I think you and I should practise from him. (Not with regards to Tennis lessons or tips though…lol)

Andy Murray is a Tennis professional and a 2-time Wimbledon winner who has been world number one in the rankings in recent years. Last year, after much struggles with injuries and pain, he decided to embark on a surgery and thought that would be the end of his career. So, he had a press conference announcing his probable retirement. It was a sad day, as the world saw a seemingly unemotional man break down when he faced the challenge of a future without tennis, the game he always loved, played and was known for.

Andy went through the surgery as well as the recovery process. Surprisingly and miraculously as he once said, he healed properly and has now started participating in competitive tennis again. He mentioned in his interview this morning that his injuries stopped him, and the time out gave him the opportunity to re-evaluate his life and priorities. He mentioned that his whole focus had always been on winning the next game. When he won, he just wants to go out there and win more. Whenever he didn’t win, he got consumed with the negative results so much that he just could not find the time to enjoy his life nor even the game he once loved anymore. Andy mentioned that he totally lost sight of his reason for playing tennis in the first place. He lost sight of his reason why.

The last few months helped him conclude that he didn’t want to play the second half of his tennis career (if he has one) the way he played the first half. His attitude towards his tennis games, family, and life in general has taken a new direction and he mentioned the fact that he wanted to recapture and refocus on his original reason; I played tennis because I love Tennis!

It is so easy to lose sight of why we do what we do. We lose sight of what is important because we sometimes get carried away by success, the crowd, the demands of others and so many other things. Loosing sight of our reasons why will make us find ourselves in the rat race of attempting to work harder, and not smarter. Going for a goal we find out we cannot achieve and many sad days. All because of the wrong focus.

The bible made us understand that even Jesus had to remember ‘His Why’ and that helped Him deal with all He encountered on the way. That ensured He was not derailed or dissatisfied.

Hebrews 12:2 says fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He set His sight right, remembered His reason and got to His destination for which He was rewarded. Joy lies ahead, but you must remember why you are on this road in the first instant and keep your focus on your destination because God is on your side!

PB

YOUR WORDS HAVE POWER!

I learnt from a story in the news this week and want to share the story and lesson with you today.

A football manager by the name of Mauricio Pochettino was sacked this week. This was not surprising as it is usual practise in the football world that the owners look at results and judge managers by the results they produce. He is the Spurs Manager. The team are not performing well this season compared to the last one. Last season, Mr Pochettino took the ok team of Spurs players and motivated them both by words and action to become a superb football team in Europe. They qualified and played a fantastic game at the champions league – though they did not win.

Fast forward to this year, the Spurs players are still superb, yet they cannot seem to function as a team in the very real way they have done previously. This same group of players, one year ago, was competing against Barcelona (a revered team), and two years ago they gave Real Madrid (another excellent team) a run for their money.

What went wrong with this manager or team? One of the obvious one to Eddie and I was the statements that Mr Pochettino made before and after the champions league final game. He kept mentioning that he is likely to leave right after they win. Well, they did not win, and he didn’t leave. The statement however created uncertainty in the team and that, in my opinion was one of the factors that led to the demotivation within the team.

Our words do have the ability to impact positively or negatively. One statement made by this gentleman had enough power in it to demotivate an excellent team that still has huge amount of potentials in them. How can one person work so hard and use their tongue to destroy what they’ve done? I am not saying this was the only reason for the deep in performance of this team, but we picked it up and so did a few commentators that addressed the issue of the sack. Words are powerful and the more positive words we speak, the better we are at building our world and a positively motivated world around us.

God’s word says

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

Earlier on today, another commentator was comparing Mr Pochettino to a new manager, Frank Lampard who called aside one of his regular players, told him how he values and believe in him. The Manager told the young player to prepare to become one of the best in the country. Result: Within a few games; the young man now plays outstanding football and stands out in the league. All from the words spoken to him by the new manager.

Be mindful of what you say. It can build or break a good thing around you.

God is on your side!

SOLUTION FOR UNSEEN CHALLENGES!

A lady was interviewed on the radio earlier on this week and I learn a lot form her, what she has gone through as well as reactions towards her. Her story is worth sharing, alongside the lessons learnt from her.

She is a mum of three children all under the age of six and they are all severely autistic. The first being a set of twin boys. When this mum described a typical day in their family when it comes to doing the normal chores that a lot of us take for granted; one will have to stop and give praise to God for the little, yet big things of life. This lady mentioned the fact that her sons have no sense of danger and can easily have a melt down over what many other parents will call a normal situation of life with kids the same age. The challenge of this family resulted in them being given a blue badge (disable access/pass) by their local authority.

The lady did not come to the radio feeling sorry for herself but had to be interviewed because her husband had to get on social media to rant about being misjudged and mistreated by people the previous week. This family went out to their superstore and were just pulling up to park in the disabled bay when a gentleman told them that they had no right to park there. They showed their blue badge, only to be informed by the same gentleman that they were not entitled to one as he could not see any physical disability. The parents had to painfully and embarrassingly explain their circumstance to which the man still insisted that they did not deserve the badge.

When the lady got on air, she started out by saying, though she is grateful to God for her 3 children and wouldn’t have wished them away, she definitely did not ask for this challenge and does not consider a disabled badge a benefit; she said she would have loved not to ever need this badge for her children at all. As she spoke, the reality of the fact that people judge based on what is seen got driven home even further. As limited as our sense of sight is, we are very quick to depend on it and judge our circumstances by what we see.

God’s word warned us concerning depending on our sight. His word says: –

‘For we walk by faith and not by sight’ 2 Corinthians 5:7

It is so easy to judge situations, both the ones we are going through as well as the ones others around us go through by sight; we rush to reach conclusions based on only what we can see, however as our sight is inadequate, we will always reach the wrong conclusions if we deal with challenges based on what we see.

Learn to live by faith to deal with the unseen challenges of life; and there are many of them. Much more than what we see. Grow yourself enough to be able to live by faith, no matter what the situation around you is. How do you grow yourself? By familiarizing yourself with God’s word. (Romans 10:17)

God is on your side!

PB

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

I read a story this week that taught me a lesson and I want to share the same with you today.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat – spare change from folks as they hurried past.

A man was walking by, he took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. Then he put the sign back in the boy’s hand so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign returned to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?” The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote, “Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.”

Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see.

Simply put, gratitude is a habit. It’s a way of looking at the world and all the good things in it with a feeling of appreciation, regardless of whether or not your current situation is to your liking.

One of God’s words in instructing us on gratitude says;

‘Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Ephesians 5:20

Gratitude is a heart-centered approach to being at peace with yourself and with all you have. When you practice this feeling of gratitude, it attracts even MORE things into your life for which to be grateful.

Take a different perspective to your challenge and experience life differently.

God is on your side!