New Year’s Resolution Except for one team, the Super Bowl champ, the final meeting of the football season is a hard one. For many teams it is the last day of a season filled with unfulfilled expectations and scattered dreams. As hard as it is for players to face the music, it is equally as difficult for the head coach to address his team, for the final time, knowing that this last meeting is indeed the first meeting, and thus the “tone setter” for the next season. Many coaches use this opportunity to not only underscore the success and failures of the season but to address the reasons why these things happened and what must change to ensure the best chance for success in the future. As a player, having sat in a few meetings like this before, I can tell you that it is easy to absolve one’s self from the challenge to change. After all, if I am not part of the “problem” coach must not be talking to me! The teams that rise from the ashes to greatness, however, are the teams that consist of teammates who understand that they ALL have a role in correcting problems because the apathy, complacency, pride, envy, indiscipline or laziness of one teammate or coach can have a devastating impact on the whole organization. So the challenge, as the coach continues to speak, is to discover your role in this change that must take place, and to make a decision to bravely carry it out. Whether it’s leading by example, leading vocally, changing a position, competing harder in practice or following team rules more strictly. The New Year is upon us and many of us will be considering different New Year’s resolutions. Many will vow to eat healthier, work out regularly or restore an estranged relationship with a loved one. As we flip the calendar, our country is experiencing a great deal of racial turmoil and tension. The events of 2014 will forever be etched in our history and our minds. But what I’ll remember most are the myriad stories I’ve heard and read from people whose hearts have been softened and who for the first time realized the racist attitudes they have harbored their whole lives. Their “resolutions” to change how they’ve always thought about and treated people are the silver linings of these dark cloudy days. My hope is that the reality check of 2014, springs us into a 2015 where we, like a defeated football team, discover OUR role in the change we want to take place. We all have a specific platform and sphere of influence. Maybe your role is to forgive. Maybe it’s to ask for forgiveness. Maybe it’s to be vocal and take a stand for truth. Maybe it’s to intentionally demonstrate to the next generation what it means to judge people by their character, not their skin. New Year’s Resolutions usually fizzle out after a few weeks because actions, no matter how well intentioned, will eventually reflect the condition of the heart. Ultimately, God is the one who can transform the hateful heart to one of love and respect for fellow man. My prayer for 2015 is that we collectively, as Americans invite Him to change what we obviously cannot. And that we courageously carry out our role in closing a wound that simply refuses to heal.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 13:07:46 +0000
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