On my heart today is a message that came to me while sitting in church. This morning I got to church a little early to journal and do my little bible study before the mass started. After I finished I set my journal off to the side. After mass, the person sitting next to me asked me where I got my journal and that he liked the message on the journal. To be honest I didn’t know what the message on the journal was until he mentioned it. On the top of my journal it said,“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” It is a quote by Theodore Roosevelt over a 100 years ago. It was a good reminder for me as someone that really goes out and seeks to be the best version of myself each day. At times it is easy to get beat down and drift from the path that God has us on. Life throws obstacles, loss, disaster and a whole lot more at us all the time. It is easy to want to just give in and take the easy path. It’s easy to cruise through life with no purpose and doing nothing with intention. I want to commend you for reading this and if you read this far, I am sure you are someone that wants to do good in this world or has a deep calling in your heart to continue to grow as a person each day. Throughout the week, I listen and read to all types of personal development and self help books, articles and podcasts. I do that to keep my mind sharp, to gain new ideas, and to motivate me to continue on the path. I want to always be the man in the arena. Not for my personal sake but to serve others and be an inspiration to those around me. Do I know what I am doing all the time? Do I think I have it all figured out? Absolutely not. Half the time I am making plans on a whim. What is important is that everything that I do I try to do with intention. For example, right now I am getting ready to play in the UFL. Just because I am training for the UFL doesn’t mean I train any differently. Just like in your life. You may not be exactly where you want to be. It doesn’t mean that you do things half ass. It is important that no matter what, you always show up with the intention to be your best. So whether I am training for the UFL, NFL or life after football. It is up to me to continue to do everything with a great intention. This may seem like a little thing. The truth is that the little things are going to add up. Keep going, be that man in the arena!
Today I had the opportunity to speak to a young group of high school athletes after their training session. I wanted to first encourage them that they are on the right path. Not many kids are working out on a Sunday morning. There are a lot of other things that they could be doing. The second thing I wanted to stress was doing everything with intention. Don’t just show up each day and not understand why you are even here or what you are even doing. Have a purpose each day and take care of business. I told them if they take care of business each day no matter what it is they can set themselves up later in life. It goes for anything really, not just football. If you take care of business each day and work hard. I guarantee you will reap a good harvest. Keep going!
Questions:
Are you living life with intention or just going through the motions?
What is your purpose?
Are you the man in the arena or are you watching too much from the sidelines? How can you get into the game?
Photo: Jesus is king! I think it is safe to safe Jesus did everything with such great intention.
Leave a Reply