Ok, let’s count down together. Three, two, one, hoo-rah! Rugby league season is back! Ok, you might not be a fan of rugby league, but I am: however, that is not quite what the article is all about.
This story is about rugby league, but the principle, applies to alot more than just league. It applies to life.
I play with the Waratah-Mayfield 17’s. We were at training on Tuesday. This year, our club didn’t have enough 15 year-olds or 16 year-olds. All 15’s and 16’s were amalgamated into the 17’s. As a result, the 17’s group was so big that they had to split it into two groups. One team would play grade two. The second team would play grade three.
That fateful evening, we ran around the training grounds, and then we grouped together as the coach prepared to read out the two teams.
One by one, the boys were separated. It was pretty obvious to everyone who was in which group. Me? I was in the second group. I was pretty happy to be there, because this is only my second season, and this way, I hopefully would get some more game time and hands on the ball. For one boy though, to be put in this group was very disappointing. And it showed too. He had played for a long time, and his selection in this team seemed wrong.
It got me thinking of a phrase that I heard once: Opportunity or obstacle, it’s all about attitude.
You see, we often think of opportunity as something golden, and obstacle as something rotten and daunting. But really, is there actually any difference? No. It’s all about your attitude. How you see things is what makes the difference between opportunity or obstacle.
In Matthew, Jesus talks about a candle. Please notice that it’s only one candle. Something else interesting, is that this candle gives light to that whole house.
Mat. 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Think about it. Doesn’t it seem a little bit of a desperate scenario? One flickering candle for the WHOLE house? Candles are not very powerful. They are tiny flickering lights that can be blown out in an instant. But what about you try it one day? Turn off every light in the house, and have just that one candle flickering. Without all the other lights, that candle becomes something that catches the eye of everyone about.
The darkness is desperate, but only one little light, can change so much. It only takes one. And when there’s only one, it’s so bright. The darkness of the house, opportunity or obstacle? If you’re one little candle, it can be a daunting task lighting that one house. It can be an obstacle. But at the same time, that little candle can light up the whole house so everyone can see. It can be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Heb 11:32-38 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
The men and women of faith in this chapter were not born in a rose bed. They were born facing what could be called, obstacles. Whopping big obstacles.
Subduing kingdoms, stopping mouths of lions, sounds pretty big to me. Being sawn in half is even worse. But look how these people took it. For them, what could have been, and probably was, a huge obstacle, became an opportunity. An opportunity to show God how much faith they really had. The opportunity to gain something that no man can take away, salvation from the wrath to come.
Opportunity or obstacle: it’s all about your attitude. The next time you find yourself staring up a mountain, think about it. Is it an obstacle or opportunity? If it’s looking like an obstacle, readjust your lens. Because every obstacle can be an opportunity. It’s all about your attitude.
This story is about rugby league, but the principle, applies to alot more than just league. It applies to life.
I play with the Waratah-Mayfield 17’s. We were at training on Tuesday. This year, our club didn’t have enough 15 year-olds or 16 year-olds. All 15’s and 16’s were amalgamated into the 17’s. As a result, the 17’s group was so big that they had to split it into two groups. One team would play grade two. The second team would play grade three.
That fateful evening, we ran around the training grounds, and then we grouped together as the coach prepared to read out the two teams.
One by one, the boys were separated. It was pretty obvious to everyone who was in which group. Me? I was in the second group. I was pretty happy to be there, because this is only my second season, and this way, I hopefully would get some more game time and hands on the ball. For one boy though, to be put in this group was very disappointing. And it showed too. He had played for a long time, and his selection in this team seemed wrong.
It got me thinking of a phrase that I heard once: Opportunity or obstacle, it’s all about attitude.
You see, we often think of opportunity as something golden, and obstacle as something rotten and daunting. But really, is there actually any difference? No. It’s all about your attitude. How you see things is what makes the difference between opportunity or obstacle.
In Matthew, Jesus talks about a candle. Please notice that it’s only one candle. Something else interesting, is that this candle gives light to that whole house.
Mat. 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Think about it. Doesn’t it seem a little bit of a desperate scenario? One flickering candle for the WHOLE house? Candles are not very powerful. They are tiny flickering lights that can be blown out in an instant. But what about you try it one day? Turn off every light in the house, and have just that one candle flickering. Without all the other lights, that candle becomes something that catches the eye of everyone about.
The darkness is desperate, but only one little light, can change so much. It only takes one. And when there’s only one, it’s so bright. The darkness of the house, opportunity or obstacle? If you’re one little candle, it can be a daunting task lighting that one house. It can be an obstacle. But at the same time, that little candle can light up the whole house so everyone can see. It can be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Heb 11:32-38 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.The men and women of faith in this chapter were not born in a rose bed. They were born facing what could be called, obstacles. Whopping big obstacles.
Subduing kingdoms, stopping mouths of lions, sounds pretty big to me. Being sawn in half is even worse. But look how these people took it. For them, what could have been, and probably was, a huge obstacle, became an opportunity. An opportunity to show God how much faith they really had. The opportunity to gain something that no man can take away, salvation from the wrath to come.
Opportunity or obstacle: it’s all about your attitude. The next time you find yourself staring up a mountain, think about it. Is it an obstacle or opportunity? If it’s looking like an obstacle, readjust your lens. Because every obstacle can be an opportunity. It’s all about your attitude.
