This isn’t practice, it’s time to play.

I made a great comparison the other day and had to write to share it with you.  I was at the grocery store when I had the pleasure of meeting up with a lady I used to be acquainted with more often.  We caught up quickly, talking about our experiences and somehow she mentioned a recent sermon message that triggered her to ponder why some people grow over time and others do not. 

I untangled my words to express what I perceived was the problem.  The average person doesn’t push themselves toward excellence and many aren’t applying growth in their faith.  It was then I pulled up a metaphor. 

As a mother of swimmers I can often find a reference there!  You know the boys have been swimming a long time.  They have been to more than one coach and have seen progress over the years.  How silly would it appear if after half dozen years they weren’t improving, right?  I remember a time when my son mentioned that most youth show up to practice and they “phone it in”.  You know, they just do the drills without extraordinary efforts.  My son has already observed that a large percentage of the team will bust out all strength at the events but do little more than participate at practices.  I was reading in a Maxwell book that he’d had a basketball coach tell him you will play like you practice. 

Isn’t that much like a walk in faith?  Some people go to church and give every ounce of who they desire to become while there at church.  When they serve on a team for their church they are fully focused on pleasing the same Lord they dishonored yesterday.  Are not many people forgetting to apply the principles to all their lives trying to pursue excellence at all the times?  It’s like they know how to be good Christians at church but phone in their faith the rest of the week.  How will they develop and grow that way?  How can they truly see how they aren’t growing if they compartmentalize their faith?  I read in a Woodward book that the famous coach, John Wooden, believed it was the effort that determined the success.  That to “phone it in”, as my teenager put it would be to rob yourself of the growth.  If we don’t apply what we can do all the time, how will we grow?

I suddenly recognize that the true progression in faith needs to be with the integrity to be who we are learning to be all the time.  Never phone it in, for your own progress is what will be missed.  The bright eyed lady I was talking with nodded her head in affirmation, but said aloud “That really is the struggle.”  The truth is I think I used to think it was the other way around.  If I could have growth on Sunday then I’d be better all week.  I have come to learn that if I work at it all week I will have more growth on Sunday.  In my faith, I will see it all as the play and never just a practice.