Sports have reinforced a lot of life lessons for me. Among other things, my participation in organized team sports taught me to respect authority, to value teamwork and to trust my instincts. I’m a huge fan of Youth Sports and soccer has become a family favorite around my house. Two of my kids play soccer at CGSA, a great Soccer Club in Warner Robins. I love watching them play and learn the game. Over the past couple of weeks, our family has enjoyed watching The FIFA World Cup together. The level of play in The World Cup is amazing. As I’ve watched the best soccer players in the world, I’ve considered the developmental stages that they have passed through to mature into world class players. We know that athletes work to develop fundamental skills, like dribbling a ball, and team-play skills, like positions and strategies. However, there’s another element of sport that’s most interesting. It’s the intangible element of Sporting Instincts.

We’ve heard the expression, “she has a nose for the ball”. That expression refers to a player’s instincts in the field of play. Sporting Instincts can be described as a unique blend of talent, experience and passion for the game. A player with great instincts reacts to the game in the right way at the right moment with reckless abandon.

Young athletes struggle with timing. Kids often over pursue the action, they get out of position, etc. It takes time to get a feel for the game. When athletes do find their groove and get a feel for the game, their instincts begin to develop. If you’ve ever seen a free safety hit a receiver at the same moment the football arrives, or watched a perfect corner kick to a charging striker for a goal or observed a baseball player knock a 98 MPH out of the park, then you know what I mean. I love those moments. These moments are not simply about talent, they’re realized because of honed instincts.

There’s some relevant lessons to be learned from Sporting Instincts that apply to all of life. We all have unique talents, experience and passions for the game of life. We just struggle to embrace and apply Sporting Instincts to the game of life. I don’t mean irresponsible overreactions, I mean taking calculated risks in the right moments. We know that things don’t always turn out well for risk-takers. That’s just part of life. However, more often than not we just let our opportune moments pass and succumb to our doubts and fears. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you know that he famously told his followers to count the cost to follow him. Sporting Instincts are like a pure form of calculated risk-taking. There are some lessons that we can translate from Sporting Instincts and apply them to risk-taking in real life:

1. A pure heart should guide us. Risk-taking simply for personal gain can even cause us to do the right things for the wrong reasons. Guard your heart and be a team player.
2. When we measure risk versus reward, we need plenty of knowledge. This knowledge is gained through experience. Experience is not all about being well-read, it’s about practice. Work hard now to create bigger opportunities later.
3. Make no mistake, this final point is not easy to apply but profoundly real nonetheless. All of the preparation and energy that goes into a sporting event is defined by split second plays when players with a “nose for the ball” make big plays. Trust your instincts and pursue your dreams with reckless abandon.

I would love to hear from anyone about my Sporting Instincts thoughts or any other sporting lessons that people have applied to real life. What lessons have you learned?

Sometimes, we can just look at a person and sense the creative energy bursting from within them.  We’ve all heard the expression, “I can see your wheels turning”.  This figurative reference points to those moments when innovative thought takes over our minds and we stop talking.  Innovations, not just artistic expressions, are often inspired through creative silence.  The best examples are children focused on some artistic expression like drawing, painting, sculpting or just building with Lego’s.  As a rule, childhood is not a quiet season of life.  However, when kids are offered a creative outlet such as a box of crayons and some paper, a creative silence will inevitably follow. Creative silence even applies to musicians when they focus on the art of making music.  Creative silence is a state of mind.  Inside of everyone, there is a passion to express ourselves creatively and uniquely.  We’re just fearfully and wonderfully made that way.

As we grow older, it seems that we try to suppress creativity and innovation for the sake of maturity.  More and more organizations and leaders are beginning to recognize the value of fostering healthy corporate cultures wherein people can thrive creatively.  This type of culture builds better companies and it makes for happier people.  Individually, we should seek outlets that foster our creativity.  We should think outside of the box when we explore our creative outlets.  For me, I enjoy creative writing, photography and blogging.  I’m also not afraid to play with Lego’s (yep, that’s right).  I’m intentional about carving out time to do these things because they empower innovative thinking for me AND they replenish me.  It’s an important practice.

The question is, what’s your creative outlet?  What unique creative activity allows you to relax and discover that creative silence when your creative expression replaces your talking?  You may know what it is and simply undervalue it.  In part, we unlock our potential through the creative silence.  Another example of someone leveraging his creative outlet is my friend Daniel Green.  Daniel is a gifted carpenter.  He recently carved and painted some Adirondack Chairs for his backyard.  Often times, our creative expressions produce tangible rewards. From a broader perspective, there’s something about focusing on our unique creative expressions that clears our minds and inspires innovations and solutions.

So, don’t be afraid to be more like a child and carve out time for creativity.  Creative silence is a catalyst to tackle our challenges and our opportunities with renewed energy…

Serving our fellow man and loving our neighbors is a higher calling.  There’s really no better example of sacrifice and service than that of an American Soldier.  The calling to serve applies to all of us in every walk of life.  Some courageous and passionate people serve in our churches, in our communities, in our schools and throughout the world for nonprofits that intersect some of life’s most dire circumstances.  Around Houston County, we have as special affinity for the men and women that serve in the Armed Services. Our military families exemplify the higher calling of service and sacrifice.  People who serve, as soldiers do, don’t do it for the accolades, yet we should reciprocate servant leadership by serving those who serve us.

Local business owner Jill Olf and co-owner Freida McCullough decided to host an event this past weekend to honor our military families here in Warner Robins.  Jill is the Broker/Co-Owner of Freedom Realty.  The vision for this event was to create a fun family festival with free food and games for military families.  The event culminated by giving away a home makeover to a special military family.  Jill rallied local businesses around the vision for this event and it was a big success!  Jill’s passion to serve our military was partly inspired through her work.

• “As a Realtor, I have the opportunity to spend time with many military families and assist them with the largest investment in their lives. Although many military families move often, the stress of relocating your family over and over is always there. God has blessed me with the opportunity to love on and encourage these families all the time“.

It was an encouraging event for all of the volunteers that served. We had a unique opportunity to serve those who serve us. I love how Jill put it when she said:

• “It is funny how you do something to bless someone else and you end up being the one who feels blessed . Watching all the children have so much fun that day made it all worth it. I think that we often take for granted the great nation we live in and all the men and women who serve our country so faithfully. We forget that while we are sitting down to dinner with our family, watching a soccer game, going to church, or just playing out in the yard, there are men and women deployed around the world that would love to be doing that too, but it could be months before they get to see their families.”
  

A servant’s heart not only seeks to serve, it honors and celebrates those who serve us….