Around The World

Anyone that knows me very well understands that I love the game of basketball.  These days my love is primarily for basketball on the driveway at our home with our kids. 
Our oldest son Brady really enjoys the game and we love to 'shoot around' together.  Yesterday we purchased a brand new basketball and Brady asked if I wanted to play a game of 'around the world'.  For those who are unfamiliar with this specific game I will briefly explain that it is a game where players must make a shot in the basket from designated spots on the basketball court determined by the players.  The first player to successfully make all of the shots is the winner.  I struggled in the beginning and Brady was doing very well.  It got to be my turn again and I began shooting and making all of the shots that we had pre-determined needed to be made. 
This game reminded me a little bit like life itself.  There are times when we seem to struggle to make things work out the way we hope they will.  However, there are also those times when everything we do seems to go 'just right'.
I was in the grocery store last evening and I noticed a group of young people.  I watched them for a little while because I was in the same places they were to get the few items I needed to purchase.  A woman in a handicap cart dropped an item from the basket on her cart.  Without hesitation one of the young people reached down and picked up the dropped item.  That wasn't the part that impressed me the most it was the smile that accompanied the simple act of service.  I think the woman was a little shocked by the act of kindness from the young man but she smiled in return.  I think that there are many days when the woman in the cart feels like life will never give her a break but the simple and kind act of somebody else helped her immensely.
A life lesson was taught to me while playing a game on the driveway with our son.  No matter what we face in life we need to be strong and continue to face the challenges that will come.  Sometimes there will be people who lend their help to us and other times we will be able to do it on our own.  Just keep plugging along and life will be rich!  

Nothing But The Bottom Of The Net

I don't know how many of you even like the game of basketball but I thought that I would share a little something about the game as it pertains to me and my life. 
The dimensions of a traditional court is ninety-four feet in length by fifty feet in width. Like with anything in life, there are boundaries.  It is expected, by all participants, to abide by the regulations set. 
There are similar boundaries set in our own lives.  As long as certain rules are kept life seems to move forward at a pretty good clip. 
Our lives can be compared, in many ways, to the game of basketball.  There are fundamentals, that if learned, practiced, and then mastered, can aid the player in a higher level of success.  The is precisely the same with life.  There are countless opportunities to become better skilled in a certain area of life.  There are opportunities that require effort but are character builders in the end.
I love to play basketball.  These days, it's really only fun for me to play on the driveway with our kids.  There are fundamentals that can be learned to better hone your own personal skills of the game.
More important than basketball is our ability to master the things of life.  To be the very best you can be!  Day by day, a little at a time, the day will come where self-mastery is the end result.  That will take a lifetime but the hard work in the journey is worth the end result.