Golf Lessons

Last summer my wife and I visited a friend and his wife on the island of Kauai, at the North end of the Hawaiian Islands. His wife has recently taken up golf and was obviously enjoying it a lot, because she talked about it constantly! Not just because of the weather and the beautiful scenery either. She just loved playing golf, even though as she admitted, she wasn't very good at it. She was excited when she hit the ball well, because it went down the fairway like it was supposed to. She was also excited when she didn't hit the ball well, because it meant she could hit it again. When the ball fell into a sand trap, she was excited because it was a chance to practice getting it out. As you might imagine, she especially liked the colored golf balls.

 

I'll admit that I don't like golf, but in a way I think life is a bit like golf: We have to identify short and long term goals, review the various challenges, and then take appropriate action. I also think that like my friends wife, we can't let our abilities get in the way of trying to do our best. I love the fact that she doesn't keep score when she plays golf, and I think most of us would agree that life is not about keeping score. Marsha Sinetar said, "Life’s up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals. Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want". All of life's obstacles have their own lessons to teach, the trick is to identify the challenge to be dealt with.

 

Like a video game, only with the right action can you pass on to the next level. For instance, you don’t want to push-on when you’re not really pursuing your own dream, and you don’t want to redefine your dream until you have the right skill set. If you take the wrong action, you may not necessarily be moving away from your dreams but most of the time life will just keep putting obstacles in your path. So when life decides to pull a trick on you and place an obstacle on your path, be grateful! It’s an opportunity to learn something about yourself, and it gives you an opportunity to identify the challenge and consciously choose how you are going to deal with that obstacle. Remember that life is not the opponent. God wants you to live your dream, and will help you to do just that. It’s good to know that although Life’s favorite trick is to challenge us, we can learn from the experience and know that God is with us.