Winning

“Don’t think about winning the game. Just do everything possible to prepare. As long as you know you have done everything possible and you have given your best self on the court, that is your reward. The scoreboard is meaningless.”                                                                                  John Wooden

This quote by Hall of Fame coach John Wooden was spoken to his star player from the 1960’s, Kareem Abdul Jabbar (at the time named Lew Alcindor). The venerable coach Wooden shared a valuable life lesson with his young star player.

The only thing that we can control is the effort and preparation that we put into any endeavor. There are variables beyond our control in, say, a sports game, a performance, an interview- whatever. Things can go wrong that are not our fault at times. In a sporting contest, there are many things that can happen that we cannot control- mistakes by officials, weather issues, injuries, etc.

If we have done all that we can reasonably do to prepare, we have met our objective, and we can be more at ease. In other words, do all that you can do, then just pray about the rest. You have done your job. Winning is not the primary consideration. Doing our best, is.  

Prayer: Lord, help us to let go of the outcome and consider the process, Amen