Jake's Thought for the Week

Each Monday I will be posting Jake's thought for the week that he sends out to all the parents in his All Iowa Attack program. Here it is for this week:

After the past month of AAU state tournaments we have had many, many awesome moments and we have certainly had a handful of moments where we wish we would have done a little better. The only concern that I have had this past month definitely has nothing to do with the amount of success we are having on the basketball court. Rather, my concern stems from the lack of perspective and joy many are having because of playing time, individual failures, and occasional team failures. All of these failures are part of the natural process as we head towards our various goals on the basketball court.

I completely understand that the structure of All Iowa Attack and how the kids are coached certainly breeds discontentment when or if we fall short of our goals as a team or individually. This week I came across an excerpt from the book “Good to Great in God’s Eyes" by Chip Ingram. I have attached the excerpt below and I hope little things like this will help all of us to enjoy the process it takes to go from good to GREAT!!

A CHEERFUL HEART IS GOOD MEDICINE, BUT A CRUSHED SPIRIT DRIES UP THE BONES -Proverbs 17:22-

Excerpt from Good to Great in God’s Eyes By, Chip Ingram: Let me share a hypothetical word picture with you. I envision getting to heaven one day and finding a big door with my name on it. When I open the door, I see shelves stacked high with beautifully wrapped gifts. “What’s this?” I ask, and the Lord tells me it’s all the good things he planned for me. “So this is what heaven has in store for us,” I whisper in amazement. And the Lord says, “No you don’t understand. Heaven’s much better than this. These are all the things I wanted you to have on earth, but I couldn’t get you to look up and receive them. You were so busy trying to prove yourself to people, trying to make an impact, positioning yourself for the next career move, and all those intense stresses. I just wanted to refresh you and bless you and show you my love. You know those people who kept inviting you to dinner? They were some of my choicest servants. You’d have loved them. But your calendar was so full with producing that you never took time for enjoying, relating, and just relaxing. I put opportunities in your path that you never noticed, and I put people in your path who would have loved you if you’d given them the time. You just never took the time to slow down and receive what I was offering.

I know when I come across excerpts like this it always helps me to be able to step back and put the journey we are on together into perspective. It forces me to ask myself many questions. Am I pushing too hard? Am I expecting too much? And most importantly am I forgetting where the true enjoyment of success comes from? The enjoyment of success does not come from the moment we experience the triumph but rather the journey it took to reach that moment of triumph.

Go Attack,
Jake Sullivan