The Seventh Hole.

Oh golf, what can I say, between holes 1 & 3, all seems right about the sport. But somewhere around holes 4-6, the game turns at least for me, to a game of frustration. I start to get tired (I know, pretty sad when I’m tired after only 3 holes of golf…hey it is a sport), and so when I get tired like most golfers I begin to lose my focus and patience and begin to hack away at the ball. This leads me on an inevitable journey through the woods to look for another lost golfball. Now it’s here, somewhere between a thorn bush and endless weeds I begin to question why I’m out here? Why do I play golf? When is this thing ever going to end? And just when I want to call it quits and walk off the course comes hole #7. I can’t explain it, but almost everytime around the 7^th hole I get this second wind when it comes to golf. It’s weird but there’s this moment of realization that hits me around then, that no matter how bad or good I’m playing, the simple reality is… I’m playing golf. I could be at an office desk, I could be out having to do some house project…but instead I get to play golf…I get to play a game. I think if many of us were honest, we can see our lives a lot in that round of golf. As for many of us our lives feel stuck at hole #6 or hole #3…that point where we hack away at life through weariness, frustration, and questioning. For many of us we need a 7^th hole, a second wind in life and ministry. So how do we get there how do we tee up with a new vigor, energy, and joy? In a word, I think it happens when we’re willing to step onto the tee box of gratitude and thankfulness. It’s when we can get to that place where we can thank God for the simple blessing of being alive… as we stand looking out on the fairway of His plans and purposes for us. Recently in my life God has been speaking into my heart this simple truth…”My greatest challenge, and your greatest challenge is not what we don’t have in life, it’s a failure to see what we do have in life.” This life is so short, none of us have time to waste it simply hacking away at it…swinging wildly for more stuff, for more money, or for more recognition and approval. See I believe this if we’d start our days with less “to do lists” and few more “what’s been done lists” we’d find ourselves less on hole #4 and 5 and more on hole #7, that place of refreshment, renewal, and refocus. So let me ask you, what has God done in your life, how have you been blessed, and what do you have to be thankful for?