PERSEVERANCE

We hear it all the time... "stick with it"... "keep going"... "don't give up"...  Well as we all know, sometimes it is easier said than done.  But there is so much truth to this.  Look at how many inventions came out of failure.  Consider the great leaders in our nations history who lost first elections.  How many great athletes were cut from a team once or twice or more?  What if they didn't "keep after it?"

As I have discussed before, I hurt my knee in October 2012.  I really didn't think I did anything to it.  I had hurt it before requiring two surgeries but this just didn't seem like that big of a deal.  I was hoping that it would get better in a couple of weeks, but that turned out to be wishful thinking.  Then I was shooting for March when the first baseball tournaments started rolling around.  No.  OK, well then I got an MRI, kept seeing an amazing chiropractor and started to play in a baseball season with a knee brace.  It was humbling.  It hurt to walk let alone run.  I found out how difficult it is to have your normal bat swing when you don't have your legs under you.  I kept stretching and lifting.  Pretty much decided that I was going to have to live with it, but that I was just going to keep playing.  Then an amazing thing happened.  I realized about two weeks ago (almost 8 months after the injury) that I wasn't babying my knee so much any more.  It wasn't bothering me when I took a swing.  Then I went back and looked at my batting stats for the past two weeks (4 games in both the 40+ league and with the young guys 18+) and was stunned.  Over that period I had gone 11 for 16 for a .688 batting average.  And I also realized that I have been getting to balls in the outfield just like in years past.

Now I know that playing adult baseball isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things, but there might be a lesson here.  Here is a TIP FROM A MAN... let's all consider taking this same approach to things that do matter in life.  With our families, in our churches, in our jobs, in our communities, with our health.  Don't give up when faced with a set back.  Keep a level head.  Stay motivated.  Keep working.  Visualize what you are working for.  Try and try again.  Patch it up with that son, daughter or spouse.  Be a voice of reason.  Work a few extra hours.  Be more kind and respectful.  Battle that illness.  Be more creative.  Stick with eating right and exercising.  Believe that you can make a difference... better yet, know that you can make a difference.

Enjoy life!