Because we serve and love a Lord who loves to lift up the broken-hearted. Who loves to empower and magnificently use the weak, the worn, the lowly. Who loves to revive and redeem the deceivers like Jacob, the doubters like Thomas, the deniers like Peter, and the down-and-outers like, well, like about every one of us!
He gives us fresh new seasons to remind us that we can begin again. After the unrelenting cold and gray of winter, spring arrives with new possibilities and beauty. Then the warmth and joy of summer. When we can't stand the heat one more moment, fall ushers in cool breezes and brilliant foliage. And then the winter comes with it's cozy fires, hot cocoa, and bracing serene beauty. New seasons, new opportunities to start afresh and try again.
"Always we begin again."
Always we put the past failures and short-comings behind us and start each day anew. Always we keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting.
Paul put it so perfectly: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:13-14)
And that's what we saw illustrated live and in living color yesterday in, of all things, a golf tournament. The States. Our high school team--the Broughton Caps--played in the State Championships.
Now before we get to yesterday, let me tell you about last year. Oh mercy, last year was one of those "forgetting what lies behind" kind of times. Same State Championships. Same course in Pinehurst. Pretty close to the same team. But last year our guys struggled, and by the end of the first day, they were totally out of the running. It was a tough, discouraging couple of days for the whole team.
One of our players--a really great player--had an especially difficult time. Golf is such a strange sport--you can be playing really well and then suddenly lose your confidence and can't hit the broad side of a barn. Well that happened to one of our guys. It was surely a terribly discouraging time for him. But frankly, they all struggled last year. I guess golf is a microcosm of life--some days the sun is shining and all's right with the world. And then other days, the rain pours down and you feel alone, exhausted, defeated.
But here's the thing: they could've quit. They could've given in to apathy and indifference. They could've stopped working at it--surely it's easier to just stop trying or even to quit than to keep on working and trying but risk disappointment and defeat again, right?
Wrong. Because men and women of character keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep trusting that God's at work even when they can't see it or feel it.
Keep forgetting yesterday's failures and beginning again today.
And in our case, keep forgetting last year's disappointments and beginning again this year. Working and pressing ahead, eyes focused ahead and not behind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Like I said, we saw it yesterday. And it was beautiful to see such refusal to give up or give in. Such fight--trying hard to the very last shot. Such focus--forgetting the past, eyes looking forward. And beginning again--each day, each hole, each shot.
These guys have been through some tough, discouraging battles--but they kept showing up, kept working hard, kept simply refusing to give up. And the result was a victory. A hard fought, well-deserved, incredibly appreciated, and wonderfully sweet victory.
By the way, that player that had a particularly hard time last year? He was one of the big reasons the Caps won yesterday. Played solid as a rock...even when he had a really tough break on the next to last hole. He could've looked back to last year and gotten tight and discouraged. But instead, he took a deep breath, eyes focused ahead and nailed a long putt on the 18th hole. We all whooped and hollered. He's a senior, and boy, we're going to miss him next year. Because, yeah, he showed us what character does--digs deep and keeps trying and trusting to the very end.
So in case you're in the midst of one of those long, hard, dark seasons of life (and we all go through them, every single one of us), just remember that nothing beats plain old trying and trusting. Just keep showing up. Keep beginning again...who knows what surprises God may have for you just around the bend? And believe me, it will be all the sweeter and greater because of the struggle.
Just ask the Caps.
To God be the glory.
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