Touch Down

It takes everyone in your life to help you reach your goals. This is what I learned this week at my son's football game.  Please bare with me as I share with you the excitement I felt as my son scored his first ever touch down in his high school carrier.  You see my son is a lineman

                                    That's my Lineman

                                    He holds back two guys so your son can get 

                                    around to make the tackle

                                    He stands his ground, pushes other guys                                             around 

                                    so your son can make the play.

                                    He never folds under pressure so your son can 

                                    get the touchdown.

                                    He works hard and does his job with no 

                                    announcement for the job he did

                                    He does not care because what he does he                                             LOVES to do.

                                    That's my Lineman

He knows his place on the team,  he knows his job and he does it well.  Last night my lineman played the part of a running back.  Our team was ahead we were less than 5 yards from the goal and his coach put him in to run the ball.  The ball he never gets a chance to touch because that's not his job on the team.  My son the big lineman that he is, was handed the ball and he ran it into for a touchdown or I should say he plowed his way through the other team to get that touchdown.  I could not believe what I saw.  My lineman scored. I was beyond excited.  I was beyond thrilled.  I probably annoyed a bunch of people in the stands as I cheered for my son.  I didn't care, my son made a touch down! As we were walking down to the field to congratulate the boys some parents were just as excited as we were.  Some parents looked annoyed at us. Maybe it was because they wished it would have been their son.  I have no idea. But this experience has made me really think about what it takes to be on a team. It's helped me see what everyone's place on the team is. What it takes to reach your goal. My lineman never gets the glory of the play, he very rarely gets thanked for doing his job to help his team reach that touchdown.  His only thanks is a pat on the back saying good game tonight.  He doesn't really care because like I said before, he knows his job on the team and he wants to play it well.  It takes every player on the team to win the game.  The linemen on offense stop those from the other team breaking through to get our guys making the play to move the ball forward.  The linemen on Defense help break through the other teams line so that someone can get around and tackle the quarterback.  It takes every player on the team doing their job to get a tackle.  Usually the line does not get any credit.  After one game an adult came up to my son and told him he did a good job.  He said thanks.  Right after that this person started talking about another boy that did amazing!  He had a lot of tackles that night.  My son jokingly said, Ya I did all the work and he gets all the glory.  That person didn't understand what he was talking about.  You see my son was holding back 2 guys so that other boy could get around and make a tackle.  I asked him does that bother you that you don't get any of the credit.  He said no because that isn't my job.  I know that the only reason he made it around was because I was holding back 2 guys.  I do my job so he can do his.  That is what a team is.  I learned something from him that night.  We all have a job to do in this world.  If we do our job, it will make other people's job easier.  If we cause havoc on the field instead of doing our job.  We will never reach our goal.  In the middle of one game, we saw from the stands one of our boys getting ticked off at another one of our boys.  One of the captains saw this happening and immediately called a time out to cool our boys off.  Later I asked my son what had happened, he said one of the running backs started telling the line to do their job.  He was causing havoc on the field.  Have we ever felt like that in life.  Other people are looking down on us because we are having an off night.  What if that boy would of said encouraging words instead of talking down to the lineman.  Really if someone is not doing their job for one reason or another, they know it, they feel it and they need encouraging words to get them feeling better about themselves instead of being torn down.  We need this in life also, We need help to get out of our funk.  We need help to see our potential.  As parents sometimes we can be the problem instead of the solution.  I've thought a lot about this in resent months.  There are times in my life of raising children that I became a part of the problem instead of the solution. Especially if I felt that my children did not get treated right on a team or in school.  My daughters senior year of high school she was on the Varsity team.  They called her the wall because not very many people could get past her.  Her last game of the season her senior year, her coach could not be there so another person coached their team.  This coach did not feel like my daughter was the fastest so she did not get to play very much that game.  Needless to say they lost the game and as the mother, I felt like she got the raw end of the deal.   That coach changed up the defense that had very few scores against them the whole season.  I saw the defeat on my daughters face and in her whole body and my mother bear instinct kicked in.  For weeks we talked about how unfair that was.  At the time I did not realize I was not helping the problem, I was feeding the problem.  After a couple of months, I came to my senses and finally told my daughter, " sometimes life is unfair, sometimes life stinks, sometimes we just have to forgive and move on.  She still has issues with this circumstance from 5 years ago.  I'm over it but she is not and I think I did not help the situation. I had a long talk with her a few weeks ago and told her go write out your feelings on the circumstance and then throw it away.  Let it go. It is only hurting you. That coach has not even thought about that day again.  It is only hurting you. 

So if you are listening to this POD Cast today, this is my message be a team builder with your children.  Teach them to forgive and get over things.  Teach them to be happy for people when other succeed. Teach them to deal with anger, feel it in a healthy way.  We were given anger for a reason.  Teach them too recognize anger for what it is and know it is ok to feel it, it is just what you do with it.   And above all teach them to love. This life is too short to hold on to frustrations and to be mean.  Find joy in the journey and be happy for others when they have a great moment.  Don't be jealous.  Just. be happy for those around you!  Have a great week.