I’m a true sports fan but only in a game’s final minutes. Fortunately, I can depend on my husband’s frantic calls from the TV room to ensure I don’t miss the action. “Come quick! You’ve got to see this!” is my cue to hustle to my seat so I can soak up those heart-pounding, nail-biting, excruciatingly, tense moments before the clock runs out, the buzzer sounds, the whistle is blown.
During clutch time the score fades into the background as I sit mesmerized by the players effortlessly shifting upward into their zone, their greatness. How do they do that? Is it years of experience? Dedicated practice? Pure talent? Yes, and there’s something else. They play with a sense of urgency that can only be created by the very design of the game. It’s finite. There’s an end to every game and every season.
This urgency generates energy, intensity, flow and focus, transforming the want to win into the will to win, a strength and determination to do whatever it takes to create a victory.
Awe-inspiring commitment and action. Beautiful to behold!
No one’s playing it safe, waiting for someone else to score or hoping luck will come their way. They’re playing full out because in seconds the game will be over, for some even a career.
What if we lived our lives that way? What destinations could be reached? Who might we become? How high could we soar?
In my own life I’ve spent years believing in some infinite future. I didn’t need to play full out because the timing wasn’t right; I didn’t feel like it; others might disapprove. Always a reason to stay out of the game.
That’s no longer an option.
On my bedside table sits an old-fashioned hour glass, a constant reminder that life is finite. It doesn’t scare me; it energizes me, waking me up to my own sense of urgency so I can play the game with a willingness to do whatever it takes before the last grain of sand runs out.
