A simple lesson...

Watching football as these 7 and 8 year old boys get down on the line ready to defend their title I watch from the sidelines.  (I am a people watcher)  You have a mom who knows nothing about sports but could not be prouder her little son is on the field! You have a crazy man screaming to the refs that they are probably going to "go to hell"  you have others texting on their phones thinking there presence in body is enough to support their children.  Then you have friends screaming and cheering these little children's name.  To us... it is just a game... to them its their moment to shine.  Those little boys while running onto the field look in the stands to see who is there cheering for them.  They notice if you are texting, smiling, screaming, or missing.  They line up on the line and they for a moment hold a glimpse of daydream to how the play will proceed out.  They can imagine winning the whole thing and how proud we will be of them and how proud they will be of themselves.  Then the whistle blows and quickly everything they thought, imagined, played out ... either works or doesn't.  Either way... at the end of the game... we stand there cheering as loud as we can, smiles on our faces, and our arms spread wide to receive them with a hug.  If only that was how life was for us as adults.  We daily line up on the sideline to defend our beliefs, our opinions, our side of the story.... we have people standing on the sideline.. some watching to see if we will succeed or fail.  We have so many in the stands screaming how they believe it should go, judging our choices, our actions... in our minds we played it out, how it would make people feel, how we would succeed, what we would accomplish and then real life plays out... maybe not so much how we thought, we get hit, we get knocked down, people talk mean words, people do things to hurt us, life just is life... in the end when you get up... its those who are standing at the sideline... those .... they're the ones worth fighting for.  Sometimes the hardest part is owning the defeat, but you never quit... you go back to drawing board and learn the new plays... hell if a 7 and 8 year old do it weekly... why cant we!