By Ife J. Ibitayo
Last week, I played my first pickup game of five-on-five basketball in three years! I made a third of our team’s points on roughly 50% field goal percentage with a handful of assists to boot. But I was also a defensive sieve and poor rebounder. So overall my performance was decent. But my path to decency was a long one.
Back in high school, I remember one day when I was shooting free throws through everything except the hoop. The assistant head coach walked up to me and said, “You can quit right now and come back for track season.” But I didn’t quit that day; I kept on clanking.
Now the value of practice doesn’t just apply to hobbies like basketball; it applies to everything in life. 1 Timothy 4:11 says, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” So, if there is anything that we should want to train in, it should be loving God and loving others better. We all recognize this truth deep inside our bones. We want to be a more thoughtful friend or a more sympathetic spouse, but we don’t know where to start.
Start Small
But starting itself is often the most important task to reaching our destination. The Chinese Proverb “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” isn’t just a pithy statement, it is an undeniable fact. A fraying marriage won’t be mended over night. But one of the first patches can be saying “I love you” before you go to bed each evening. Your teenager won’t magically open up to you if you take five extra minutes to listen to them when you pick them up from school. But you’ll be astounded at what amazing bounds can arise from such seemingly small baby steps.
Don’t Give Up
But in a similar vein, if you don’t see the progress you’re hoping for yet, don’t give up. Because we live in an instant culture, we often want instant results. But one day (or even a month) of good practice often won’t be enough to reverse the course of years of bad habits That is why the apostle James mentioned how the farmer has to wait for both the autumn and the spring rain before the land yields its harvest (James 5:7). Similarly, we have to wait for God to water the seed we’ve planted and give it time to germinate before we receive the harvest we’re hoping for in our lives.
Conclusion
Lastly, forgive yourself when you misstep. We all know the saying, “No one’s perfect.” Yet sometimes we live as if we expect ourselves to be! If you continue to step forward, week by week, month by month, year by year, I’m positive that you too will achieve decency in the areas of life you’re pursuing. And with the help of God, you might just reach excellence.
“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.”
(1 Corinthians 9:25)