“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” — Hebrews 13:16
Post-It Note Reminders
The job of a coach is like a Post-it note: His or her foremost function is to serve as a reminder to those around them — a reminder of what they want to do, a reminder of what their aim is, a reminder of what is important.
For each player, that reminder has to be packaged differently. Therefore, coaches are left with the difficult task of learning what reminds or motivates each player. Pre-game rituals, halftime speeches, individual attention, visualizing the goal — these are all attempts at reminding each player of his or her purpose. All game long, the job of the coach is to correct and motivate the players.
Legendary college football coach Bear Bryant commented on how he motivated his Alabama team: “I’m just a plow hand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together; how to lift some men up, how to calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together — a team. There’s just three things I’d ever say: If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it.”
Athletes are not the only ones who need to be motivated. As Christ-followers, we lack motivation just as often. We forget what we want to do, we forget what is important, we forget what our aim is.
What motivates you? Is it correction or encouragement? Have you momentarily forgotten what the goal is? The Apostle Paul is like our Post-it note, reminding us not to “become weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). That’a a great motivation!
— Molly Ramseyer
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