“Better than a touchdown.”
Kick it!
“Well I’m not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don’t last
Well it’s just now and then my line gets cast into these
Time passages.”— Al Stewart
I buy into the expression; “divine spark”…
There’s an ancient association to it that means nothing to me, but in the context of how it was used during the fight to end slavery I wholly subscribe to the expression “divine spark”.
To see within another, no matter the color or background, that part that shines and reflects the very image of God.
I subscribe to the divine spark because we are not animals. I subscribe to the divine spark because it speaks that within us we always have the ability to do better; to be better, to act better.
We’ve all failed in life, failed at different times, often, sometimes occasionally, in the worst ways…but we carry within us that divine spark that allows us to overcome.
…And we’ve all had success to varying degrees.
Watching a highlight the other day of Barry Sanders, the Detroit Lions hall of fame running back, it struck me he has not played a down of football since 1998. He’s 44 years old and, in large part, all we have of him are the 10 years he played in the NFL.
Sanders is 44 years old, there has to be something more to his life than the 10 seasons of football he played. Something else that brings him joy, something other than a touchdown that brings him happiness, or puts a smile on his face.
This column isn’t about whether Sanders is a good man or a bad man, but an example of how temporary some things in life are…And most importantly, not having everything we are ever going to be locked into a small section of time.
We are better than this, because we carry within us that divine spark. That image of God that calls us to be better. To grow, to mature.
The picture above has become one of my favorites. The father, in love with his wife, joyous. You see it in his eyes. In the mother you see the look of awe and amazement. I see it in the lines etched on her forehead, in joyous expression of what her union with her husband has brought about. In the child you see everything beyond the parents and ourselves. Beyond the next paycheck, the next touchdown, the next great personal moment.
I have never met the people in the picture, but when I look at it I see the essence of what makes us better. A demonstration of the divine spark that enables us to rise above any moment.
The football we’ve seen this season has been amazing. It’s great football, fun to watch, exciting…But in a few weeks many of these players will be playing the final football game of their lives.
And the touchdown is great. The tackle is marvelous. The title is gratifying. The championship is beyond compare…but there are greater things waiting for us ten, twenty, even thirty years down the road.
We carry within us a divine spark that calls us to do even more.
That life you change four years after you’ve turned in your gear…That child you raise twenty years after being in the best shape of your life…That family you build and rejoice about as you turn the corner of 50…That thing you do that makes better something for someone else…
This is the divine spark…
All within our reach…all possible. The road can be a tough one, there will be difficult moments…but we can forge through. It’s within us to do so.
Don’t fret about the passage of time, don’t fret about something coming to an end, because in the form of wisdom, and joy, it all comes forward with you to use to your advantage and extract blessings from.
The Dude abides…
494
Hebrews 10:39
Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com
Follow him on Twitter at @joet13b
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